Post-conviction anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs)
Police forces have been able to use post-conviction anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) to reduce the activities of domestic extremists.
Anti-social behaviour orders exist to protect the public from behaviour that causes or is likely to cause alarm or distress.
An order sets out conditions prohibiting the person named in it from carrying out specified anti-social acts or entering defined areas. It is intended to protect people from further anti-social acts by that person.
Disobeying an ASBO is a criminal offence. An individual found guilty of breach of an ASBO would have a criminal conviction.
Obtaining a post-conviction ASBO
The Police Reform Act 2002, which amends the Crime and Disorder Act of 1998, allows ASBOs to be used as a part of the sentencing process – an 'order on conviction' or 'post-conviction' ASBO – after a person has been convicted of a relevant offence.
A court may make an order on conviction either at the request of the prosecutor or of its own will.
Police forces are able to ask prosecutors to request the imposition of an ASBO on conviction during the prosecution of individuals for criminal offences carried out as part of a domestic extremist campaign.
