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Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO)

Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBO) were created by the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (ABCPA 2014, s.22 with effect from 20 October 2014). It replaces the former powers of the court to make orders such as an ASBO or a drinking banning order on conviction.

Applications are made by the prosecuting authority in the case (CPS, either at their own initiative, or at the request of the police and local councils).

A CBO is an order designed to tackle the most serious and persistent anti-social individuals where their behaviour has brought them before a criminal court. A CBO can deal with a wide range of anti-social behaviours following the offender's conviction, for example threatening violence against others in the community, or persistently being drunk and aggressive in public. The anti-social behaviour to be addressed does not need to be connected to the criminal behaviour, or activity which led to the conviction. However, if there is no link the court will need to reflect on the reasons for making the order.

The order must be proportionate and reasonable. Any prohibitions and/or requirements must, so far as practicable, avoid any interference with times an offender would normally work, attend school or other educational establishment and any conflict with any other court order. If the order requires the offender to do anything, then the order must specify the individual or organisation that is responsible for supervising compliance with the requirementand must hear from them about both the suitability and enforceability of a requirement, before including it in the CBO.

The court may deal with the application for a CBO at the same time as it imposes sentence for the offence. Alternatively, the court may sentence the offender for the criminal offence and adjourn the application for a CBO to a later date. The court can impose an interim order in cases where the offender is convicted but the court is adjourning the hearing of the application for a CBO before or after sentence for the offence. The court cannot hear an application once sentence has taken place, unless the application was made by the prosecution before sentence was concluded, as an application cannot be made retrospectively.

The following links provide guidance on Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs):-