Our Petition
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister: The Right Honourable Gordon Brown MP to accept this petition asking for the following considerations:
Petition:
• To support a review and a change in legislation relating to Anti-Social Behaviour, and yob culture.
• To ensure uniform policy on ASB from area to area/county to county
• To engender stiffer custodial sentencing for prolific offenders.
• To safeguard victims of ASB and Nuisance Neighbours.
• To improve the quality of life of victims with adequate support.
• Legislation that grants Legal Aid or Assisted Aid for victims of ASB/Nuisance Neighbour and Yobbish Behaviour Syndrome automatically.
We, the undersigned are petitioning the government and in particular the Home Office Department and Dept. for Communities for more help in combating the destructive force known as anti social behaviour.
We have seen in the news too often, the devastating impact ASB has on individuals, their families and on entire communities.
Recently, we have borne witness to the tragic story of Fiona Pilkington whom after being let down time and time again by both the police and local authorities was desperate enough to take her daughters life and then her own.
The list of those who have died as a result of Anti-Social Behaviour is growing longer and still our government remains stoic that enough is being done.
This is clearly not the case.
We the victims of Anti-Social Behaviour demand a uniform approach to dealing with the problems of ASB not the scattergun effect we have now, where the standard of 'service' from public providers and law enforcement agencies is haphazard.
We are living with a postcode lottery of our own and clearly, it is not acceptable, yet it is often accepted.
Harassment and bullying within both the education system and the workplace sector is already recognised as a serious problem, yet bullying someone in their own home is looked on as a fact of life, 'one of those things' or a 'neighbourly dispute', when it is anything but.
Tragedies like the above mentioned case should not happen but still do and the list of casualties of ASB is growing.
When you become a victim of Anti-Social Behaviour your life is turned upside down. It doesn't feel like it's your life anymore and you gather a very real sense of fear in your heart.
When this occurs within the confines of your own neighbourhood, your home goes from being your sanctuary to your fortress and from thence your prison.
That is not a normal way to have to live.
Even if the current legislation of ASBO's is used against a perpetrator to curb their behaviour, ASBO's are breached anything up to six or seven times before a severe custodial sentence is given and in the meantime the damage inflicted by their porous lifestyle against a victim and a recurring victim, (as once you come forward you are targeted), has a real and damaging effect on your health and frequently your income and in turn your quality of life.
We are told to stand up to the Yob Culture, with very little or no support and are then left to pick up the pieces and continue living next to hell on earth. We are stuck in our own private nightmare, not able to move on, living with fall out from a system that is in overload.
Where is the justice in that?
There is no workable solution for us if the law stays as it is.
We the undersigned implore you to take our request seriously and help bring about an end to the misery and devastation caused by Anti-Social Behaviour, the scourge on society.
We request that you review current legislation, set up a new
Home Affairs Select Committee into the effects of Anti-Social Behaviour on communities and institute a Commissioner to help Victims of Social Crime.
We are the forgotten army, left to soldier on long after the ASBO's, the media and the politicians have passed us by.
We are victimised and penalised for standing up to the fastest growing social disease in Western Europe and our only crime is our honesty.
The following persons have signed this petition – (Email and IP addresses have been verified).
(To be completed when the Mend Britain petition is submitted).
Please Note: The amount of signatures is not relevant to those who are affected - many are too afraid to sign for fear of intimidation from the neighbourhood in which they HAVE to live.
