There are people who have been sceptical about ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders), dismissing them as a soft-option, ineffective way of dealing with vandals, yobs and louts of all ages who make a nuisance of themselves. However, Bradford's experience of them suggests that the reality is rather different.

According to Chris Slaven, manager of the Council's six-strong team of ASBO officers, the system is working - even though between 60 and 70 per cent of the orders imposed in the district have been breached. That, though, does not mean that more than two-thirds of the people who have been given ASBOs have got away with it. On the contrary, it means that as a result of breaching the order they will have been arrested, charged and dealt with through the courts as lawbreakers.

If, as Mr Slaven says, there has been a marked difference in levels of anti-social behaviour in places where the ASBOs have been applied, then the message appears to be getting across: misbehave and you will be given an ASBO, breach the ASBO and you will be arrested and taken to court.

Properly used in this way, ASBOS are important tools in the battle against the sort of behaviour which makes individual lives a misery and drags down whole districts: playing loud music, repeatedly shouting abuse, campaigns of intimidation, attacks on property and vehicles, lighting fires, drug dealing, unsuitable riding of motor cycles...

ASBOs might not be designed to be a punishment, but it is absolutely right that if the culprits fail to rein in their behaviour voluntarily, which is what orders expect them to do, then the courts should make sure punishment follows.