LONDON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Britons could be evicted from their own homes for being nuisance neighbors under the "respect agenda" proposals unveiled by Prime Minister Tony Blair Tuesday.
Ministers are consulting on the idea of court orders that would allow anyone accused of "persistent and serious" anti-social behavior to be evicted from their homes for three months.
Police could get new powers to issue on-the-spot fines for anti-social behavior, while the public would be able to demand tougher action from their local forces.
The plans also include funding for new Parenting Academies to help problem families, and parenting orders if the parents of children behaving anti-socially refuse offers of help.
Launching the Respect Action Plan, Blair said the proposals would "deter bad behavior and invest in good behavior."
The "overwhelming majority" of people were respectful and knew how to live side by side by their neighbor, he said. However, particularly in deprived areas, anti-social behavior was a problem that had to be tackled if law-abiding citizens were to live free from fear.
He acknowledged that many of the powers would change the burden of proof so that the accused would have to prove themselves innocent instead of the accuser having to prove guilt.
"To get on top of 21st century crime, we need to accept that what works in practice is a measure of summary power with right of appeal," he said.
But Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, said the government had to consider the many ways in which "the innocent and the vulnerable" could be swept up with the guilty, noting examples of children with ADHD and Tourettes' Syndrome sent to court for swearing and a suicidal woman banned from bridges.
The underlying philosophy of this policy was that presumption of innocence was "too cumbersome," she said.
"With the move to summary, arbitrary and loosely defined community justice, anti-social behavior laws have to date been at best neutral and at worst positively damaging."
The measures were described as "knee-jerk populism" by the Conservatives while the Liberal Democrats branded them a "mish-mash" of gimmicks.
