Anti-social behaviour policy is still not putting victims first

Protecting anti-social behaviour victims was a priority for the Coalition. As part of this agenda, call handling and case management trials were introduced so that vulnerable and repeat victims could be quickly identified and protected. Vicky Heap writes that the implementation of the process is not mandatory for police forces while the government keeps no record of how widely it is being used. What complicates matters further is the lack of clarity surrounding the point at which anti-social behaviour becomes a hate crime, and so victims could fall through gaps in the system. The result? A postcode lottery for those in need of protection

Transforming anti-social behaviour: ASBOs, injunctions and cross-cutting criminal justice concerns

The Coalition Government has recently made the most substantial changes to anti-social behaviour (ASB) legislation since it was enacted in 1998. New Labour’s flagship Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) has been replaced as part of a raft of reforms to streamline the tools and powers available to tackle ASB. This paper examines the legislative changes to ASBOs and the proposed impact of these changes by considering the turbulent development of their replacement: the Injunction. ASBO reforms are subsequently analysed within broader transformative processes currently being undertaken in the criminal justice system, with specific reference to the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda and the probation service. A lack of evidence-based policy; rushed changes, payment incentives and marketisation are highlighted in this paper as cross-cutting concerns between these two different, but ultimately interconnected policy domains. Ultimately the changes to ASB legislation are deemed to be superficial, although it appears the foundations are being laid for more radical changes in the future

Exploring the effects of long-term anti-social behaviour victimisation

Despite victimological interest in the impacts of different types of criminal victimisation, there is little empirical work that examines the effects of sub-criminal behaviour on victims. This article begins to redress the balance by reporting the findings from a qualitative research project that investigated the effects of long-term anti-social behaviour (ASB) victimisation. Semi-structured interviews explored victims’ accounts of the long-term ASB they experienced and the resultant effects it had on their lives. The research uncovered that victims experience a range of mental and physical health effects as well as behavioural changes and has provided the first in-depth insight into the impact of this type of victimisation. The findings suggest that the cumulative harms associated with ASB need to be better acknowledged, understood, and addressed, with greater support made available to victims

Anti-social behaviour victims' experiences of activating the 'Community Trigger' case review

This article reports the first in-depth account of anti-social behaviour (ASB) victims' perspectives of using the Community Trigger case review in England. Semi-structured interviews explored whether victims perceived the Community Trigger to stop the persistent, long-term ASB they were experiencing and how they navigated the activation process. Attention was paid to whether the victims were satisfied with the response they received from the authorities and if they felt empowered by the legislation. The research provides detailed descriptions of victims' experiences of this policy and discusses the implications for policy reform. The results suggest that repeat secondary victimisation is a risk for victims of ASB that activate the Community Trigger. Resultantly, a range of empirically-driven policy recommendations are provided to improve frontline practice relating to case review procedures and communicating with victims, in order to protect victims of ASB from additional harm

Democratic localism and the implementation of the Community Remedy in England and Wales

This article assesses the development and implementation of the Community Remedy anti-social behaviour policy by Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales. The Community Remedy, introduced by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act (2014), allows victims of ‘low-level’ anti-social behaviour to select an informal action for their offender from a list designed by their local PCC via consultation with the public. This article reports the results of a benchmarking exercise that investigates how PCCs have translated this policy into practice by examining: public consultation procedures; the contents of the Community Remedy documents; and police usage. The findings indicate an uneven implementation across regions with variable levels of engagement from PCCs, police forces and members of the public. We assess the enactment and adoption of this new power alongside its potential to stimulate democratic localism

Community Protection Warnings and the practices of the preventive state.

This article explores preventive justice through the use of Community Protection Warnings (CPWs), a civil measure used to tackle anti-social behaviour in England and Wales. Through a qualitative study of frontline practitioners’ experiences, this article argues that CPWs are a preventive form of punishment, framed through non-punitive intentions and as ‘just’ a warning, while their use in practice demonstrates coercive and punitive outcomes. Drawing on Beckett and Murakawa’s notion of the shadow penal state, in which the reach of the penal system is extended through new entry points outside of the criminal justice system, we argue the use of CPWs implies a penumbra to that shadow, further stretching the state's punitive reach with fewer due process protections

Net-widening, gap-filling, and shortcut justice: the practice of Community Protection Notices to regulate anti-social behaviour

Since being introduced in 2014, Community Protection Notices (CPNs) have changed the anti-social behaviour (ASB) policy landscape in England and Wales. Using Cohen’s (1985) netwidening analogy as an analytical framework, we evidence how CPNs are an example of the creeping criminalisation of sub-criminal behaviours from first-wave to second-wave ASB policy. In doing so, we highlight how frontline policing bodies have lowered the behavioural threshold at which ASB enforcement takes place, demonstrate how CPNs are employed to fill gaps to regulate behaviour not traditionally associated with the criminal justice system, and show how CPNs are escalated to a Criminal Behaviour Order in a way that shortcuts due process and results in disproportionate punishment