Anti-Social Behaviour Orders: A Culture of Control?

by J. Donoghue

Overview

Although anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) are a relatively recent development in criminal justice policy in Britain, they have nonetheless been an extremely topical area of law and policy for some years. Despite considerable public support for the creation and use of ASBOs, much of the academic literature characterizes the use of ASBOs as indicative of an increasingly authoritarian political and social agenda embodying marginalization and social control.

Rather than presenting a wholly critical perspective on anti-social behaviour policy as borne out of politically opportunistic and reactionary motivations, this book argues that the creation of the ASBO, and latterly the introduction of the New Labour administration's 'Respect Agenda', in fact represents a socially progressive attempt to address the pernicious and debilitating effects of anti-social behaviour which are most often felt by those with the least opportunity to escape it. The introduction of ASBOs can be characterised not necessarily as part of a 'culture of control' but as part of a shift towards a culture petitioning civic reciprocity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230594449
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	02/24/2010
Edition description:	2010
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

JANE DONOGHUE is Deputy Director of Research and Lecturer in Law at the School of Law, University of Reading, UK. She specialises in the study of anti-social behaviour management and is currently conducting research on anti-social behaviour response courts in England and Wales funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Preface viii

1 Introduction 1

2 The End of Respect? 9

A 'new drive' on anti-social behaviour 10

3 Anti-Social Behaviour: The Political Landscape 16

Defining anti-social behaviour 18

Misuse of public space 19

Disregard for community/personal wellbeing 19

Acts directed at people 20

Environmental damage 21

Incidence of anti-social behaviour 23

Frequency of ASBO use 26

Effectiveness 27

Penal welfarism and the new politics of law and order 30

Broken Windows 35

Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime 38

Anti-social behaviour and the politics of 'Left' and 'Right' 41

4 Anti-Social Behaviour: The Historical Landscape 48

The purification of space 50

Anti-social behaviour as 'risk' 52

A rise in incivility or a 'moral panic'? 59

5 Anti-Social Behaviour and Social Housing 65

Management and control in social housing 66

A historical tradition of moral censure? 68

Responsibility and blame 74

Contexts of tolerance and intolerance 81

6 ASBOs in Practice 88

The study 88

Civil procedure 92

Prohibitions 100

Breach 106

Interim orders 113

Orders on conviction (CrASBOs) 116

ASBOs, young people and children 121

Defending ASBO applications 124

Disability, addiction and mental health problems 125

7 ASBOs and the Targeting of 'Undesirable' Persons 132

Defending ASBO applications 132

Interim orders ex parte 138

8 Reflections on ASBOs as Social Aegis 143

Political pragmatism? 145

Community (in) action 147

Social control 148

Due process 150

Civic reciprocity 152

Notes 157

References 163

Index 175

Editorial Reviews

'It was time for a book presenting a more positive commentary on the British government's anti-social behaviour policy, and this is it.' - The Howard Journal

'Donoghue provides a helpful reminder of [...] the broadness of the definition of anti-social behaviour' The British Journal of Criminology

From the Publisher