Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Notes PDF

1/20/25, 11:53 PM OneNote Lecture 6: Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Saturday, January 18, 2025 4:49 PM Defining anti-social behaviour (ASB) Behaviours that cause harassment, alar...

1/20/25, 11:53 PM OneNote Lecture 6: Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Saturday, January 18, 2025 4:49 PM Defining anti-social behaviour (ASB) Behaviours that cause harassment, alarm or distress to someone in a different household (in context of neighbourhoods and community) to an extent that it requires intervention from relevant authorities but, criminal prosecution and punishment may not be appropriate Behaviour is not actually prohibited by criminal law Or cumulation of relatively minor offences Examples Graffiti Youth drinking, smoking, being rowdy, or just hanging around in public spaces Neighbours making noise Threatening and harassing behaviour by neighbours 'a label of convenience for disparate forms of activity' 'a politically packaged set of very different concerns' (millie, 2008) 'there is no single definition of ASB. It covers a wide range of behaviour from litter to serious harassment' (social exclusion unit 2000) Timeline The emergence of ASB in the USA and UK 1980s deindustrialisation -> mass unemployment and neighnourhood decay Certain industries which were improtant sources of employment were in decline – manufacturing, mining, shipping ect. Decline in blue colar jobs Lead to poverty in loads of UK towns Shifts in criminology and criminal justice practice Broken windows theory (wilson and kelling, 1982) Linked to poverty, marginality and the 'underclass' debate (right realism "At the community level, disorder and crime are usually inextricably linked, in a kind of developmental sequence. Social psychologists and police offer's tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all of the rest of the windows will soon be broken. That is as true in nice neighbourhoods as in run-down ones... one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no-one care" (p.31) Social housing Crime, disorder and harassment concentrated in deprived social housing estates Measures for so-called 'neighbourhoods from hell' Unchecked youthful or adolescent ASB Seedbed of a persistent criminal career ASB as a moral challenge to a broad consensus of accepted values Politics of ASB: New Labour "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" - Blair, 1993 Reported and recorded crime levels were falling but.. Importance of public perceptions of rising crime Abs was viewed as undermining the governement's 'law and order' successes New labour invested heavily in prevention and early intervention (psycho/social positivism) Defining ASB: New Labour legislation Crime and Disorder Act (1998) and Police Reform Act (2002) https://cf-my.sharepoint.com/personal/jonaszs_cardiff_ac_uk/_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?sourcedoc={edce8746-85ef-4948-8eb3-f67378cbb710}&action=ed… 1/5 1/20/25, 11:53 PM OneNote " Acting in a manner that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm, or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as him or herself and where an ASBO is seen as necessary to protect relevant persons from further anti-social acts by the Defendant" (Crime and Disorder Act) Anti-social behaviour Act (2003) Consequences of 'ASB politics' Exacerbating tensions – old vs. Young, middle class vs. Working class Increase public anxiety Undermine faith in legal institutions Undermine public understandings and support for liberty, fairness, justice How ASB has been punished – ASBOs, CrASBOs, and CRIMBOs Crime and disorder act (1998) Antisocial behaviour orders (asbos) - civil punishments, under civil law not criminal law Gave conditions you had to follow e.g. curfew Police reform act (2002) Interim ASBO – with immediate effect while evidence of ASB is investiagted Criminal ASBO (CrASBO) - post-conviction, keeping tabs on persistent offenders ASB, Crime and Policing Act (2014) Replaced ASBO with criminal behaviour order (CRIMBO) High breach rate of ASBOs For people who have both committed a crime and engaged in ASB Emphasis on positive requirements Breach is not a criminal offence but is a civil offence but could still result in imprisonment Injusctions and community protection notices (CPNs) Demetriou (2020): Injunctions: The implementation of injunctions might not be subjected to the same level of judicial and academic scrutiny (compared to, say, ASBOs were) due to its civil nature. Addressing ASB still takes place ‘in the shadows’ and highly depends on the police officers involved – evidence of more welfarist measures being used in favour of enforcement. Heap (2021): Community Protection Notices: Breach can result in a Fixed Penalty Notice or criminal conviction CPNs can be issued by a wide range of agencies who have a lot of discretion Lack of transparency and consistency in the implementation process Defining ASB: Home Office (2011) Personal – captures incidents that are percieved as either deliberately targeted at an individual or group or having an impact on an individual or group rather than the community at large Nuisance – captures incidents where an act, condition, thing or person causes trouble, annoyance, irritation, inconvenience, offence or suffering to the local community in general rather than to individual victims Environmental – captures incidents where individuals and groups have an impact on their surroundings, including natural, built and social environments Criticism of ASB and its Responses 'recipe for institutionalised vigilantism' 'emblem of popular punitivism Criminlising behaviour that is otherwise lawful Criminalising childhood/youth Pluralistic policing of ASB Example : housing policy Powell and flint (2009) - landlords given extra powers to tackle ASB Enhanced powers of eviction Probationary and demoted tenancies Good neighbour agreements Social landlords are often heavily involved in calling for and monitoring ASBOs, injunctions, acceptable behaviour contracts Private landlords have become involved in selective licensing schemes and closure orders connected to ASB Theorising ASB Concentrated in deprived areas (CSEW, 2011/12): Asb in less deprived = street drinking and young people 'hanging around' https://cf-my.sharepoint.com/personal/jonaszs_cardiff_ac_uk/_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?sourcedoc={edce8746-85ef-4948-8eb3-f67378cbb710}&action=ed… 2/5 1/20/25, 11:53 PM OneNote ASB in more deprived areas = drugs, verbal abuse, violence and nuisance neighbours Sociological positivism Common features of asb cases (brown, 2004) : Mental health problems, addiction, learning difficulties, domestic violence, physical and emotional abuse Psychological or sociological positivism Strain theory Limited access to legitimate means of achieving shared goals Disjuncture (gap) between goals and means = strain Moral panic/ Subcultural thoeries Status frustration and blocked oppurtunities Labelling theory Social constructionism of deviance and negative impact of labelling 'seductions of crime' theory (katz, 1988) 'moral and sensual attractions of doing evil' Emphasis on pleasure and excitement Summary ASB is a political and social issue Blurred boundaries between crime and ASB Subjective and vague which creates a net-widening effect whilst also being potentially meaningless Criminalising youth Criminalisation of social policy ASB is subjective “Virtually any activity can be anti-social depending on a range of background factors, such as the context in which it occurs, the location, people’s tolerance levels and expectations about quality of life in the area” Whitehead et al (2003: 4-5) Perceptions of ASB Millie et al (2005) 1. Misbehaving children and young people Boisterous and rowdy behaviour by children Young people congregating in groups Young people causing damage to property and the environment Anti-social use of cars and motorbikes by children and young people 2. Problems associated with misuse of drugs and, to a lesser degree, alcohol 3. Neighbour disputed and 'problem families' 4. A pervasive sense of powerlessness associated with all these problems Criminalising Nuisance? "Curfew & dispersal orders go much further than seeking to control the criminal and anti-social behaviour of young people but ‘to control their behaviour completely……(and) seek to ban groups of young people congregating in public at night, regardless of whether or not their intent is criminal or indeed anti-social" (Walsh, 2002:73) Young People in Public Spaces ASB or 'art'? 'vandalism becomes publicly accepted 'art' if it follows an agreeable urban aesthetic' (millie) Debate around vandalism, self-expression and art YP use graffiti as a way of 'marketing terrority' Also used as a way of personalising a space https://cf-my.sharepoint.com/personal/jonaszs_cardiff_ac_uk/_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?sourcedoc={edce8746-85ef-4948-8eb3-f67378cbb710}&action=ed… 3/5 1/20/25, 11:53 PM OneNote Impact of ASB on victims Victims Tend to concentrated; neighbourhoods, streets, people Residential areas with high levels of social deprivation 'hotspots' Fiona Pilkington (38) and her daughter Francesca Hardwick (18) Victims of ASB between 1997 and 2003 (33 police reports) Purposely targeted by neighbours: Set fire to fences Threw eggs, stones ect. Broke 5 windows Taunted francesca Police advice was to close their blinds and ignore the abuse Died 24th october 2007 Repeat victims Cases like Fiona pilkington resulted in police forces becoming more strict about how they recorded reports of ASB South wales – new call handling system introduced to identitfy people who are vunerable to repeat victimisation https://cf-my.sharepoint.com/personal/jonaszs_cardiff_ac_uk/_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?sourcedoc={edce8746-85ef-4948-8eb3-f67378cbb710}&action=ed… 4/5 1/20/25, 11:53 PM OneNote https://cf-my.sharepoint.com/personal/jonaszs_cardiff_ac_uk/_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?sourcedoc={edce8746-85ef-4948-8eb3-f67378cbb710}&action=ed… 5/5