Night courts - reportedly to be shelved as costly and unworkable - are the latest in a long line of "eye-catching" government initiatives designed to combat youth crime.

Tony Blair first pledged a crackdown on "yob culture" at the 1994 Labour Party conference, promising a "voluntary national taskforce of young people given constructive tasks to do".

Here is a brief rundown of Labour's attempts to crackdown on anti-social behaviour since coming to power in 1997:

October 1997:

• Anti-Social Behaviour Orders proposed to prevent youngsters terrorising neighbourhoods. Later condemned by local authorities as too complex and time consuming.

• Child curfew orders to give councils the power to ban unsupervised children from specified areas. Opposition later claims none have been used

• Parenting orders requiring parents of offenders to attend special classes

• Reparation orders requiring young offenders to make amends for their crime and confront their victims

May 1998:

• In an article for the News of the World, Mr Blair highlights the link between truancy and crime and floats a series of new proposals

• These include obliging parents of truants to carry pagers so they can be warned of their children go missing

• They also include giving courts the power to force parents to escort their children to school

December 1998:

• David Blunkett unveils �500m package over three years to combat truancy

• Plans include computerised school registers so truants can be more easily identified

September 1999:

• Jack Straw announces �50m plan to cut youth offending in England and Wales

June 2000:

• Tony Blair announces that people who are drunk and disorderly will face on-the-spot fines, raising the prospect of police officers marching yobs to cash points

July 2000:

• On-the-spot fines idea dropped after police chiefs dismiss it as 'unworkable'. Fixed penalty fines - administered in a similar way to parking fines - are touted by Downing Street as an alternative.

September 2000:

• 24-hour courts administering instant justice proposed for major cities

November 2000:

• Jack Straw announces child curfew orders enforced by electronic tagging to be extended to under 16-year-olds

August 2001:

• Curfew legislation extended, allowing children up to the age of 15 to be banned from the streets between certain hours

January 2002:

• The Metropolitan Police announce proposals to create a database of potential young criminals. Civil libertarians oppose the proposal

February 2002:

• Home Secretary David Blunkett announces juveniles on bail can be tagged, in an attempt to crack down on persistent young criminals

March 2002:

• Parenting orders are extended

April 2002:

• For the first time, all persistent offenders, not just those accused of violent crime, can be held on remand while awaiting trial

• Parents of children who truant face losing child benefit

November 2002:

• Anti-social behaviour bill included in Queen's speech

• Plans include making it easier to evict anti-social tenants

• Plans also include extending the use of fixed penalty notices and increasing the number of people enforcing them

• There are also proposed new measures to tackle graffiti, use of spray paints, fly-tipping, vandalism and dangerous use of airguns, fireworks and other anti-social behaviour

December 2002:

• Report by Lord Chancellor's department suggests night courts are costly and unworkable