A CHARITY for crime victims in North Yorkshire has welcomed new plans to put victims at the heart of the law and order system.

The Queen's Speech yesterday stated that a new Criminal Justice Bill would be "the next stage of reform" which would bolster the powers of the police and probation services to protect the public from violent offenders and anti social louts.

A spokesman for Victim Support in the county said: "We are increasingly aware of the impact that anti-social behaviour has not just on individuals but entire communities. It does blight people's lives.

"We at Victim Support look forward to seeing what impact this bill could have."

The bill will include measures promised by Home Secretary John Reid in July, such as raising the maximum penalty for carrying a knife from two years' imprisonment to four.

It will expand use of "conditional cautions", which allow offenders to be handed a punishment by prosecutors without being taken to court and new "violent offender orders" will be created to impose restrictions on dangerous criminals even after they are freed from jail.

The spokesman added: "If the Government wants to increase the sentences for people convicted of carrying knives, that sends a clear message to people who are tempted to use knives to inflict harm on people, or even as a measure of self- defence."

But he said that knife crime had not spiralled out of control and still affected relatively few people in the county.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "We will obviously study the proposals with interest and act accordingly.

"It is too early to say what the particular benefits will be but, obviously, knife crime is a matter of concern to anyone and we are certainly committed to reducing it by every possible method."

Other measures will include changes to the Court of Appeal's test for overturning a conviction.

In July, Dr Reid said he planned to change the law so the courts did not quash convictions on technicalities when an offender was "plainly guilty".

The new legislation will also bring compensation for those who are wrongly convicted of a crime into line with the sums which are paid out to victims.

The bill is also expected to boost the immediate powers available to police and introduce a generic community sentence for young offenders.

Possession of so-called "violent and extreme pornography" will carry up to three years imprisonment, following a long campaign by the mother of the Brighton school teacher Jane Longhurst, who was murdered in 2003.