Anti-social behaviour - Convictions’ drop is open to scrutiny

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the number of public order offences have been on the increase in recent years.

More and more people have been complaining about late night violence on the streets of our towns and cities, but figures published by the Department of Justice suggest that such offences are on the decline.

The number of people against whom proceedings were taken in 2004 is not yet available, but there was a drop of 2,384 in the official figures between 2002 and 2003.