Curbs on freed violent offenders
Asbo-style Violent Offender Orders (VOOs) that can restrict criminals' movements after they are released from prison are coming into force.
Civil VOOs are intended to help cut re-offending by banning criminals from certain places or from contacting particular people for up to five years.
But the Howard League for Penal Reform said it feared they could be overused and counterproductive.
Ministers have also announced £3.2m of funding for victims of sexual assault.
The measures are part of an updated strategy by the government to tackle violent crime and were contained in the 2008 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act.
Under the terms of VOOs, serious offenders who have reached the end of their prison sentences or licence can be banned from places, events, and from contacting specified people for between two and five years.
They must also tell police if they move home, change their name, or go abroad.
Breaking the terms of a VOO could be punishable by five years in prison.
“ They can actually make it more likely that someone will reoffend, not less likely ”
Andrew Neilson Howard League for Penal Reform
Police can apply to a magistrates' court to grant a VOO for any offender who has served at least 12 months in prison for offences including manslaughter, attempted murder or grievous bodily harm.
Policing Minister David Hanson said: "Violent crime can have a devastating effect on victims and on communities.
"Violent Offender Orders are a valuable tool to help protect the public and disrupt offending behaviour."
West Mercia Chief Constable Paul West said they would help deal with offenders who were "no longer subject to any statutory supervision, but nevertheless are still deemed to pose a risk of serious violent harm".
'Covering their backs'
But Andrew Neilson from the Howard League said he had concerns about the idea.
"Our experience of these civil orders, as with Asbos, is that we are told they will be used in a minimal way, but then over the years they seem to be overused in every way possible by agencies who are covering their backs," he told the BBC News website.
"One of the reasons our prison population is growing so rapidly is because many of the people in there have broken the terms of these sorts of orders.
“ Initiatives like this need proper training, implementation and evaluation if they are to be worthwhile ”
Deborah McIlveen Women's Aid
"Our other worry is that they can be counterproductive. They can actually impose restrictions that make it more likely that someone will reoffend, not less likely.
"For example, restrictions that prevent someone gaining employment, when we know that getting a job is one of the best ways to prevent reoffending."
Deborah McIlveen, from domestic violence charity Women's Aid, said that while the initiative was welcome, it would remain to be seen how consistently and effectively it would be implemented across the country.
"There are already procedures in place to protect victims, but they are not always followed by police and other justice agencies," she said.
"For example, ex-partners of offenders should always be told when they are released from prison, but they're not.
"Initiatives like this need proper training, implementation and evaluation if they are to be worthwhile."
Centre funding
Papers outlining the new strategy also reveal ministers are considering teaching children about domestic violence in schools.
It will form part of a government bid to tackle violence against women and girls to be launched later this year.
Mr Hanson, who is due to visit St Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) in Manchester on Wednesday, revealed that £1.67m will be spent to help establish eight new SARCs.
The money will also support 15 existing SARCs and fund 43 independent sexual violence advisers to offer practical support for victims of sexual violence.
SARCs provide victims of sexual assault with medical care and counselling.
A further £1.6m has been allocated to 39 organisations which are members of Rape Crisis England & Wales and The Survivors' Trust.
These charities provide specialist services, such as counselling and advocacy, to women and men who have been raped or experienced sexual violence.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/8183821.stm
Published: 2009/08/04 23:16:46 GMT
© BBC MMIX
Sounds like another plan to turn this Country into one large open prison. If 'an offender' is so violent that they should be removed from society or part of society then PRISON is the best place for them. Then once they have served their debt to society they should be free to live free from that debt until such time as they choose to break the law. Otherwise how does a person get the chance to change.
This scheme sounds like it will only serve to trap people in the Criminal Justice 'system'. Think of the hours spent bringing people to Court because they walked too far down a road in breach of an Order. These people will find it far harder to turn thier lives around.
Now of course lots of violent people are just bad and they need to be in prison not subject to silly rules about which streets they are allowed to walk down or who they can talk to.
