Asbos: How To Lock Up A Werewolf In Two Easy Stages

In Britain we've been having a teensy little problem with our judiciary -- They refuse send anyone to prison. Well, alright. There are some people (murderers, armed robbers, homeowners who defend themselves against intruders) who one simply has to lock up.
But. That leaves an awful lot of junkies, petty thieves, hookers, drunks and yobs, and these are the sort of charmers the courts will do nothing about … Or at least they wouldn't until the government came up with a clever little trick called Asbo's (Anti-social Behaviour Orders) with which to trap our liberal judiciary into actually doing what they're paid to do. Here's how it works:
Be a nuisance by doing something that won't actually land you in prison and the court can impose an Asbo. Simple. But useless? Well, no. Here's the fun part: if you happen to carry on doing that anti-social thing you do (the one that won't ever land you in prison), this means you're now in breach of the Asbo. And guess what, sucker? That *will*, indeed, land you in prison. [Snicker] What's more, liberals only just seem to have noticed this is actually happening. [Double-snicker]

The counter-attack against this cruel and unusual attempt to lock up hundreds of habitual law-breakers comes from the National Union of Probation Officers (Napo), who have been crying on the Guardian's left shoulder:

'The courts are sending people to prison for breaching the terms of antisocial behaviour orders even though their original offences, such as begging or prostitution, do not carry a prison sentence.'

Quite why Napo think people should be menaced for money by grubby crackheads is anybody's guess, but the difficulties faced by prostitutes is of such concern to them they discuss the fate of one unfortunate hooker in greater detail:

'The union says that it also has cases in which a prostitute was told she could not carry condoms in a prohibited area despite the fact that the drug clinic which provided her with free condoms was in that zone.'

We can hardly bring ourselves to imagine what the court could have been thinking. Not only does this poor woman have to find a new street corner to stand on, but she is forced to trudge miles between clinics, whereas before she had a convenient one-stop-shop for all her methadone and prophylactic needs. The horror!

Then there is the sad case of the 28-year-old who took to howling like a werewolf. When neighbours investigated, they were treated to the sight of him dancing with a Christmas tree. In spite of complaints, the lupine howlings continued and he was promptly jailed for two months. Wailed the Guardian:

'There is evidence that people with mental health problems are being made the subject of antisocial behaviour orders when what is needed is treatment.'

You don't say.