JUNIOR antisocial behaviour orders (Asbos) for youngsters, the flagship youth-crime policy of the previous Labour-led Scottish Executive, proved so unsuccessful that only 14 were ever issued in Scotland, at a cost of £500,000 each, it emerged yesterday.
The Asbos for under-16s were introduced by the Labour- Liberal Democrat administration as part of its crackdown on youth crime.
But Fergus Ewing, the SNP community safety minister, told MSPs yesterday that there had only been 14 junior Asbos
ever issued in Scotland, while the project had cost £7 million.
Mr Ewing said it was no surprise that the policy had been questioned by the new Scottish Government.
Yesterday, the minister unveiled a new framework to combat youth offending which will place more emphasis on early intervention and prevention.
He told MSPs £7 million of government funding has been devoted to Asbos for under-16s since 2004, adding: "Only 14 have been issued. It is perhaps no surprise their appropriateness and effectiveness have been questioned."
Cathy Craigie, for Labour, questioned whether the success of Asbos should be measured in their numbers.
She said: "When Asbos were issued, it would mean other methods and interventions had failed. It seems strange to measure that as an indicator of success or otherwise."
However, this argument was rejected by Mr Ewing. "I think we have to take into account the effectiveness of the expenditure of public money," he said.
"If £7 million has been devoted to a group of measures called junior Asbos which have resulted in 14 being issued, then the cost is £500,000 per junior Asbo."
Mr Ewing highlighted an Audit Scotland report of last year which indicated the impact of the measure in improving the situation had not yet been demonstrated.
He said if £7 million had been spent on creating more choices and opportunities for youngsters, instead of junior Asbos, the result in terms of outcomes "might be more successful".
The £7 million was allocated to Scotland's local authorities over a four-year period.
Councils were told to spend the money on junior Asbos, not just in implementing the orders but also in intervening at an early stage with those at risk of getting the orders in an attempt to stop antisocial behaviour.
Bill Aitken, the Tories' justice spokesman, said junior Asbos were "a monumental waste of public money".
BACKGROUNDADULT Asbos were introduced across the UK in an attempt to crack down on antisocial behaviour.
They were generally sought by local authorities against people who were found to have been disrupting their neighbourhoods, and courts set conditions on where such people could go and what they could do.
If they continued to breach their orders, then they risked ultimately being sent to prison.
The antisocial behaviour orders were extended to under-16s across the UK in 2004 in a blaze of publicity from the Labour government.
Jack McConnell, the then First Minister, followed the London line because he wanted a crackdown on youth offending.
By 2006, only four had been issued in Scotland and, in total, there have only ever been 14 in the four years since their inception.
Indeed, Kathleen Marshall, the Scottish Children's Commissioner, recently praised Scottish authorities for not seeking as many junior Asbos as their counterparts in England.
There was controversy in England two years ago when it emerged that youngsters were trying to get junior Asbos because they saw them as a "badge of honour".
This argument was always rejected by the Scottish Executive simply because so few junior Asbos had been given out north of the Border.
The actual cost of adult Asbos is usually quite low – they are estimated to cost local authorities between £600 and £2,000 each.
