Juveniles face fines for antisocial offences

Children as young as 12 could be forced to pay on-the-spot fines for antisocial behaviour and other low-level disorder offences, David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, suggested yesterday.

Youngsters would be liable for fines of up to £80 every time they were deemed by police or council wardens to be guilty of vandalism, graffiti spraying or neighbour nuisance.

Other offences that would trigger the fines are: being found drunk and disorderly, throwing fireworks, using threatening behaviour and wasting police time.

Using so-called fixed penalty notices to combat antisocial offences is a centrepiece of Tony Blair's drive against crime and will feature in a Bill this parliamentary session. Although the proposal generated ridicule when the Prime Minister first raised it, the Government believes pilot schemes have been a success.

It had always been assumed that the notices would apply only to over-18s, largely because they were more likely to have the cash.

But during the Queen's Speech debate in the House of Commons, Mr Blunkett said he agreed with calls to extend on-the-spot penalties from adults to juveniles. The juvenile age of criminal responsibility ranges from 12 to 17.

George Howarth, a former Home Office minister and MP for Knowsley North and Sefton East, said that Norman Bettison, the Chief Constable of Merseyside, wanted the fines to be levied on under-17s too.

Mr Blunkett replied: "I think he's got a very good point and I think we should consider doing that. I will ask [Mr Howarth] and the parliamentary under secretary together to come with proposals on that basis."

Both Downing Street and the Home Office are convinced that reducing low-level antisocial behaviour is a priority for most people, particularly those living in the poorest areas of Britain. A White Paper will be published early next year, advocating the extension of fixed-penalty notices from current offences such as parking breaches to a wide range of offences.

Apart from police officers, those entitled to give out tickets for the fines might include binmen and other council workers, neighbourhood wardens and new civilian police patrol officers.

As with parking offences, a £40 fine would be levied on the spot, rising to £80 if payment was not received within a certain period.