Rethinking ASBOs

Abstract

Increasing criticism has accompanied the rising numbers of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) imposed. In this short paper we review some of our own recent research findings in conjunction with other recent commentaries to question whether the declared intentions behind the introduction of the ASBO are being achieved in practice. We argue that there are a number of fundamental problems with ASBO enforcement. We conclude by urging for the resurrection of a critical and reflective practice in community safety policy development and implementation and for a recognition that there are more just and effective alternatives to our current, seemingly ‘enforcement led’, interventions

Young People and Urban Public Space in Australia-Creating Pathways to Community, Belonging and Inclusion

“…Familial surveillance is also a requirement for families with dependants subject to Anti-Social Behaviour Orders or 'ASBO's' in the UK (Squires and Stephen, 2005). In this way, ASBOs (for those aged 10 and over lasting at least two years) act to both internalise and normalise the surveillance gaze, turning it inward on a families' own children, often on pain of financial and criminal penalty if the object of the panoptic gaze should escape the modern home-cum-entertainment-cum detention centre (Valentine, 2004;Kearns and Collins, 2006).…”

Criminal Labels, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Presumption of Innocence

“…In England and Wales, local authorities and police forces distribute leaflets with pictures of people who are the subject of ASBOs, including children who may be as young as ten years old. Such a tactic was approved of in R (Stanley, Marshall and Kelly) v Metropolitan Police Commission , where ASBOs had been issued by the police and the local authority to a group of youths. Notice of these ASBOs was published in the press and on the authority's website (which referred to them as ‘thugs’ and ‘bully boys’, and mentioned their ‘animalistic’ behaviour), and flyers with photos and personal details of the boys were circulated.…”

The `problem' of anti-social behaviour and the policy knowledge base: Analysing the power/knowledge relationship

“…Amongst the range of available interventions, it is of course the Anti-Social Behaviour Order or ASBO that is the most well-known, most heavily promoted by government and the most contested (Squires and Stephen, 2005;Matthews et al, 2007). This is one element of ASB policy for which some data are available, through the publication of annual statistics on the numbers of ASBOs issued by every local authority area in England and Wales (Home Office, 2007c).…”