Giving troubled young people support in the hope that it stops them becoming involved in crime and antisocial behaviour is hardly controversial.

But a more worrying element of the government's plans to introduce junior family intervention projects for 10- to 19-year-olds - or baby ASBOs as they have been labelled - is what happens if young people don't accept the support.

If they refuse to take part in the programme then they can be given an ASBO. And breach of an ASBO is of course a criminal offence that can potentially result in a spell in jail.

One of the criticisms of ASBOs has always been that they can fast track young people who have committed fairly minor offences into custody. Baby ASBOs have the potential to do good, but they also have the potential to make this problem even worse.