An article examined young people's perspectives on anti-social behaviour (ASB), based on research in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Glasgow (Scotland). Young people found themselves in a 'no win' situation regarding their association with ASB. Participation in ASB and attempts to avoid such involvement were both seen to involve negative consequences: participation could entail violence and spatial restrictions linked to territoriality, but avoidance could lead to being ostracized from their peer group. Regardless of involvement, young people felt that adults stereotyped them as anti-social.
Source: Joanne Neary, Matt Egan, Peter Keenan, Louise Lawson, and Lyndal Bond, 'Damned if they do, damned if they don't: negotiating the tricky context of anti-social behaviour and keeping safe in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods', Journal of Youth Studies, Volume 16 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Dec
The coalition government published a draft Bill on anti-social behaviour, designed to focus the response to it on the needs of victims. A 'community trigger' would give victims and communities the right to require agencies to deal with persistent anti-social behaviour that had previously been ignored. A 'community remedy' would give victims of low-level crime and anti-social behaviour a say in the punishment of offenders out of court.
Source: Draft Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, Cm 8495, Home Office, TSO
Links: Draft Bill | Hansard | Home Office press release | CIH press release | LGA press release | Victim Support press release | BBC report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Dec
An article examined how governments had approached the challenge of improving community relations. It considered the extent to which community cohesion and anti-social behaviour policies demonstrated a coherent conception of the problem of community relations. Policies to promote social interaction were not necessarily aimed at achieving social harmony through meaningful interaction based on recognition of equal group status; and they were based on little in the way of evidence and prior knowledge.
Source: Jon Bannister and Anthony O'Sullivan, 'Civility, community cohesion and antisocial behaviour: policy and social harmony', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 42 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Dec
An inspectorate report in Northern Ireland highlighted the importance of partnership working between the justice system and other government departments in addressing the issue of anti-social behaviour.
Source: Anti-Social Behaviour: An inspection of the criminal justice system s approach to addressing anti-social behaviour in Northern Ireland, Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland
Links: Report | CJINI press release
Date: 2012-Oct
A report examined 'bottom-up' approaches to community safety that gave citizens a role in maintaining public order. It identified organizations that were already providing 'first aid' community safety training, looked at the benefits and challenges of different delivery models, and considered how the practice might be expanded.
Source: Ben Rogers, First Aid Approaches to Managing Anti-Social Behaviour: From concept to policy, 2020 Public Services Hub/Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce
Links: Report | Summary | Police Federation press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Aug
An article said that recent developments in youth justice policy (and anti-social behaviour policy specifically) reflected a consolidation and escalation of the criminalization of social policy in England and Wales. Criminalizing interventions such as dispersal/direction powers were likely to promote children's hostility and exclusion from a law-abiding citizenship, and to extend the criminalization net.
Source: Janet Jamieson, 'Bleak times for children? The anti-social behaviour agenda and the criminalization of social policy', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 46 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jul
The police service inspectorate said that the police service's approach to dealing with anti-social behaviour had improved since 2010: but that there was a significant variation in victim satisfaction levels across England and Wales. More could be done to tackle the problem, and to identify those victims most at risk of harm.
Source: A Step in the Right Direction: The policing of anti-social behaviour, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary
Links: Report | HMIC press release | ACPO press release | Labour Party press release | LGA press release | Police Federation press release | Roehampton University press release | Victim Support press release | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Jun
An article provided a practitioner perspective on anti-social behaviour orders. Practitioners were found (in contrast to other research) to view the ASBO as an effective tool in managing and reducing anti-social behaviour.
Source: Stuart Kirby and Ann Edmondson, 'The effectiveness of the ASBO – a practitioner perspective', Safer Communities, Volume 11 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
The government published a White Paper on anti-social behaviour in England and Wales. Under the proposals:
• Anti-social behaviour orders ('Asbos') and six other orders relating to the behaviour of people, such as drink banning orders, would be replaced by two orders: the criminal behaviour order (CBO) and a crime prevention injunction (CPI).
• The CBO would be available for use against people convicted of a crime.
• The CPI would be a civil order, similar to the existing Asbos – but the government said that it would be available at an earlier stage of bad behaviour, and be easier and faster to use.
• A 'community trigger' would be piloted in three areas: this would force the police, local councils, and other agencies to act if five households complained about anti-social behaviour, or if the same individual complained three times.
The coalition government also published the responses to a consultation paper on proposals to introduce a new mandatory power of possession to enable landlords to take swifter action to evict their most anti-social tenants.
Source: Putting Victims First: More effective responses to anti-social behaviour, Cm 8367, Home Office, TSO | Strengthening Powers of Possession for Anti-Social Behaviour: Summary of Responses to Consultation and Next Steps, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: White Paper | Hansard | Home Office press release | Consultation responses | DCLG press release | ACPO press release | Childrens Society press release | CIH press release | CMH press release | Labour Party press release | LGA press release | Victim Support press release | BBC report | Inside Housing report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-May
A report summarized the findings of trials by eight police forces of new approaches designed to ensure that repeat and vulnerable victims of anti-social behaviour were identified and prioritized more effectively. It said that greater knowledge of social housing powers, and more partnership working, could improve the effectiveness of police handling of anti-social behaviour cases.
Source: Focus on the Victim: Summary report on the ASB call handling trials, Home Office
Links: Report | Home Office press release | ACPO press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Apr
An article summarized some of the main findings of a study that investigated how far the Anti-Social Behaviour Response Court model (specialist anti-social behaviour response courts) had been absorbed into mainstream courts in England and Wales. The research suggested that courts had not embedded community justice principles; nor had they altered their focus to incorporate a significant degree of liaison with the community.
Source: Jane Donoghue, 'Anti-social behaviour, community engagement and the judicial role in England and Wales', British Journal of Criminology, Volume 52 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Apr
A study examined attitudes to low-level dishonesty and anti-social activity – the extent to which ordinary people 'bent the rules' in their day-to-day lives. Lying, adultery, drug-taking, breaking the speed limit, drink-driving, and handling stolen goods were all seen as more acceptable than they had been at the turn of the century. There was a noticeably higher tolerance of dishonesty among young people.
Source: Paul Whiteley, Are Britons Getting More Dishonest?, Essex Centre for the Study of Integrity
Links: Report | Essex University press release | ESDS press release | Christian Institute press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Jan