British thugs will have their stereos, iPods and other “bling” items seized by police if they refuse to behave.
Ministers will today announce the scrapping of Asbos, the anti-social behaviour orders which have become a badge of honour among hooligans.
Instead, they will be hit with new “criminal behaviour orders” banning them from town centres or street corners for up to two years.
Under the ambitious initiative, troublemakers will face the same asset seizure powers as major criminals. They would be likely to lose personal items such as stereo systems and electronic gadgets.
Previous ideas to target young tearaways with financial penalties - such as Tony Blair’s much-derided plan to march violent drunks to the nearest cashpoint - have been attacked as “gimmicks”.
Opponents say that taking cash or property from criminals makes them more likely to carry out muggings or burglaries.
But the Home Office believes that confiscating items which are hugely important to youngsters, such as their music systems, will “hit them where it hurts”.
A government source said: “We want punishments that are meaningful and useful.”
Labour’s anti-social behaviour powers will be scrapped and replaced with a new sliding scale of penalties for low-level crimes.
Police will be given new discretionary powers to punish troublemakers on the street instead of dragging them into the bureaucracy of the legal system. They may order an offender to repair damage to property, such as mending fences or washing off graffiti.
Other sanctions could include cleaning police cars or picking up litter. Alternatively police or councils can apply to the courts for the new “criminal behaviour orders” banning troublemakers from certain areas for up to two years and prohibiting further bad behaviour.
If they disobey, the criminal asset recovery powers could be deployed. The ultimate threat is imprisonment.
Officials say the problem with Asbos was that the only punishment available for breaching an order was jail. This was rarely considered proportionate, which meant that thousands of breaches went entirely unpunished.
Sources say this is one of the major reasons why Asbos became such a laughing stock.
The new orders will be backed by the introduction of a “community trigger”, forcing police to take action if five households complain about a particular problem.
Forces could be sued for compensation if residents feel their concerns have not been heeded, and those who believe they have not been given adequate protection from gangs or nuisance neighbours will be able to complain to new elected police crime commissioners.
The criminal behaviour orders will also be backed by court powers to close a property where there has been persistent disorder.
There will be a change of emphasis away from the term “anti-social behaviour”, which was largely coined by the last Labour government.
Home Secretary Theresa May believes the term has become unhelpful, allowing police to say complaints should be dealt with by town halls rather than police officers.
The most notorious case concerned Fiona Pilkington, the mother who killed herself and her disabled daughter Francecca in 2007 after being hounded by thugs at their home in Leicestershire.
Her pleas for help were repeatedly ignored after police decided it was the job of the council to deal with her misery. Mrs May said troublemaking should be called what it is - “crime and disorder”.
She told the Daily Mail: “By calling it anti-social behaviour, it made it seem less important and less of a crime.
“Part of the problem is that people feel they are reporting things that are wrong but they are not seeing any action.”
Ministers will consult over the replacement powers and punishments before the publication of a Bill later this year.
The scrapping of the term Asbo will close a colourful chapter in the history of the justice system. There have been many peculiar uses of the power.
A 60-year-old man from Northampton was banned from dressing as a schoolgirl.
A country and western music fan in Peterhead was given an Asbo for tormenting his neighbours with Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash all day.
A woman who made her neighbours’ lives hell by having noisy sex breached her Asbo four times. - Daily Mail