‘Modify Asbos when behaviour improves’

More antisocial behaviour orders issued to young people should be discharged or conditions varied if their behaviour improves, a government report has said.

Only 142 of 4,649 Asbos were reviewed in this way from April 1999 to December 2004, the study from the Social Exclusion Unit said.

It pointed to the need for more individual support orders to be issued alongside Asbos to address the underlying causes of behaviour.

It also called on the government to offer more low-level counselling for vulnerable young people.

And the study, which looked at young adults with complex needs, said adults in their early twenties were “invisible” to services because of a cut-off in youth policies and programmes at the age of 18 or 19.

Meanwhile, a quarter of young adults admitted to breaking the law last year, according to the Home Office. Most committed low-level offences, while the most common forms of antisocial behaviour were being noisy or rude in public and causing a neighbour to complain.