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143 SEVEN the ASBO and the shift to punishment Elizabeth Burney New Labour’s ‘tough on crime’ mantra heralded the introduction of a range of criminal justice policies intended to turn this into a reality, a tendency that has brought new instruments of punishment and control every year since 1997. The earliest and still the most controversial was the introduction of the Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) in the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act. The measure immediately attracted criticism for its legal form and for its potentially punitive reach. It stands at
-abiding majority (Home Office, 2006). The Anti-Social Behaviour Order or ASBO has been the flagship measure of this aggressive law and order policy, and the UK has been in the grip of what Alvaro Gil-Robles (the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights) has described as ‘Asbomania’ (Gil- Robles, 2005: para 113). Over eight years since the ASBO was first created, it seems that they are being used now more than ever before (but now – more frequently added to other criminal penalties, see Burney, Chapter Seven in this volume) (Metropolitan Police Authority, 2007
247 THIRTEEN ASBO youth: rhetoric and realities Brian McIntosh introduction Under New Labour, the problem of anti-social behaviour (ASB) has become, and continues to be, a central policy issue. The introduction of a raft of new legislation to deal with this social problem has seen the creation of a variety of behaviour regulation instruments ranging from night curfews to the Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO). However, alongside these new sanctions, one target group of such interventions is distinctly familiar: troublesome young people. Within the current
factored, the simple list then begins to resemble the following diagram (Figure i.2) in which the LGMB’s priorities have been more appropriately reconfigured. Such a reordering of the priorities of localised governance through crime and disorder instantly reminds us just how explicitly ‘ideological’ this exercise in social controlling always was. Even before the widespread adoption of the label ‘anti-social behaviour’ and still two years before the ‘Anti-Social Behaviour Order’ came into being, it is abundantly clear that certain community interests were deemed
Anti-social behaviour (ASB) has been a major preoccupation of New Labour’s project of social and political renewal, with ASBOs a controversial addition to crime and disorder management powers. Thought by some to be a dangerous extension of the power to criminalise, by others as a vital dimension of local governance, there remains a concerning lack of evidence as to whether or not they compound social exclusion.
This collection, from an impressive panel of contributors, brings together opinion, commentary, research evidence, professional guidance, debate and critique in order to understand the phenomenon of anti-social behaviour. It considers the earliest available evidence in order to evaluate the Government’s ASB strategy, debates contrasting definitions of anti-social behaviour and examines policy and practice issues affected by it.
Contributors ask what the recent history of ASB governance tells us about how the issue will develop to shape public and social policies in the years to come. Reflecting the perspectives of practitioners, victims and perpetrators, the book should become the standard text in the field.
Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) have become the main sanction for dealing with anti-social behaviour in the UK. This book provides one of the first assessments of this sanction, which has become widely used but remains extremely controversial.
The report is based on detailed interviews with ASBO recipients, practitioners and community representatives in areas affected by anti-social behaviour. Examining its use and impact from these various perspectives, the book assesses the effects of ASBOs on the behaviour and attitudes of recipients as well as examining the various issues which arise in relation to their implementation.
The report should be read by academics and students who want to make sense of ASBOs, practitioners who are involved in implementing them as well as policy makers who are responsible for designing this sanction. It will also be of interest to all those who have an interest in addressing the issue of anti-social behaviour.
This collection adds weight to an emerging argument that suggests that policies in place to make cities better places are inextricably linked to an attempt to civilize, pacify and regulate crime and disorder in urban areas, contributing to a vision of an urban renaissance which is perhaps as much about control as it is about the broader physical and social renewal of our towns and cities.
The book has three key themes: the theories, strategies and assumptions underpinning the securing of 'Urban Renaissance'; the agendas of current urban policy in the field of crime control; and, thirdly, the role of communities within these agendas. The book provides focused discussions and engagement with these issues from a range of scholars who examine policy connections that can be traced between social, urban and crime policy and the wider processes of regeneration in British towns and cities. The book also seeks to develop our understanding of policies, theories and practices surrounding contemporary British urban policy where a move from concerns with 'urban renaissance' to those of sustainable communities clearly intersect with issues of community security, policing and disorder.
Providing a rare disciplinary crossover between urban studies, criminology and community studies, "Securing an Urban Renaissance" will be essential reading for academics and students in criminology, social policy and human geography concerned with the future of British cities and the political debates shaping the regulation of conduct, crime and disorder in these spaces.
While the future shape and direction of housing policy is uncertain, the process of transformation looks set to continue. A wide range of housing policy initiatives emerged during the first term of the New Labour government and 2000 saw the publication of the first major policy statement on housing for over 10 years - the government’s much anticipated Housing Green Paper.
This book makes a distinctive and innovative contribution to the debate. Bringing together leading scholars from the fields of housing law and housing policy, it aims to engage with the central concerns of policy and to demonstrate that the parallel debates of housing studies and socio-legal studies can be strengthened by a fuller exchange of ideas.
Each chapter examines a key theme in contemporary housing policy and seeks to locate policy in relation to broader theoretical debates about the provision of social welfare.
Two steps forward is essential reading for academics, students and policy makers with an interest in housing policy and law, as well as students on wider social policy, public administration, policy and management courses.
While much has been written about the problematic behaviour of young people and their families, there has been silence on the problem of young people behaving abusively towards their parents, which may take the form of physical, economic and/or emotional abuse. This is the first academic book to focus on adolescent-to-parent abuse and brings together international research and practice literature and combines it with original research to identify and critique current understandings in research, policy and practice. It discusses what we know about parents’ experiences of adolescent-to-parent abuse and critically examines how it has been explained from psychological, sociological and sociocultural perspectives. It also outlines how policymakers and practitioners can usefully respond to the problem.
This unique book adopts a range of theoretical and practice perspectives. Written in an accessible style, it is an essential tool for academics, policymakers and professionals with an interest in domestic violence, child protection and youth offending.
Community safety emerged as a new approach to tackling and preventing local crime and disorder in the late 1980s and was adopted into mainstream policy by New Labour in the late ‘90s. Twenty years on, it is important to ask how the community safety agenda has evolved and developed within local crime and disorder prevention strategies. This book provides the first sustained critical and theoretically informed analysis by leading authorities in the field. It explores the strengths and weaknesses of the community safety legacy, posing challenging questions, such as how and why has community safety policy making become such a contested terrain? What are the different issues at stake for ‘provider’ versus ‘consumer’ interests in community safety policy? Who are the winners and losers and where are the gaps in community safety policy making? Do new priorities mean that we have seen the rise and now the fall of community safety?
The book provides answers to these questions by exploring a wide range of topics relating to community safety policy and practice, including: anti-social behaviour strategies; victims’ perspectives on community safety; race, racism and policing; safety and social exclusion; domestic violence; substance misuse; community policing; and organised crime.
“Community safety” is primarily aimed at academics and students working in the areas of criminology and local policy making. However, it will also be of interest to community safety and crime prevention practitioners who need to have a critical understanding of the development and likely future direction of community safety programmes.
