Criminals in UK to face ban from pubs, soccer matches, concerts

Criminals will be barred from pubs, concerts and sports matches under new sentencing powers widening the scope of punishments unveiled by the UK government on Sunday. Judges in the country will be able to curtail offenders’ freedoms with driving limits, travel bans and restriction zones confining them into specific areas as part of the new measures.

The changes would toughen up community punishments to deter reoffending and force offenders back onto the straight-and-narrow, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said. “Widening the range of punishments available to judges is part of our plan for change to cut crime and make streets safer,” said UK Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

“When criminals break society’s rules, they must be punished. Those serving their sentences in the community must have their freedom restricted there too. These new punishments should remind all offenders that, under this government, crime does not pay,” she said.

Offenders coming out of prison and supervised by the Probation Service would also face similar restrictions and an expanded mandatory drug testing regime.

In future, criminals without known drug habits would face this scrutiny, not just those with a history of substance misuse, the MoJ said.

Offenders who break the rules face being brought back to court or hauled back to prison as punishment depending on the sentence they are serving.

“Rightly, the public expect the government to do everything in its power to keep Britain safe, and that’s what we’re doing,” said Mahmood. Currently, judges in Britain are able to give out limited bans for specific crimes, for example football bans for crimes committed inside a stadium on match day, to prevent further antisocial behaviour.

The MoJ said it would change the law shortly so such bans could be handed down as a form of punishment for any offence in any circumstance. It would form part of wider reforms to sentencing to ensure punishments cut crime and prisons never again ran out of places for dangerous offenders, the ministry said.

“Over 2,400 prison places have opened since July 2024 with the government investing GBP 7 billion to create a total of 14,000 as the prison population increases… New technology, including Artificial Intelligence, will lighten the administrative burden and free up time for probation staff to increase supervision of the most dangerous offenders and keep the public safe,” the ministry added. The move follows some forced early prisoner releases as the government grappled with a prison system on the brink of running out of spaces.