Lecture 6: Anti-social behaviour

Question 1

What is the definition of anti-social behaviour?

Answer 1

A label of convenience for disparate forms of activity (Millie, 2008)

• Behaviours that cause harassment, alarm or distress to someone in a different household

Question 2

How did Anti-social behaviour emerge?

Answer 2

1980s deindustrialization> mass unemployment and neighbourhood decay
→ Linked to poverty, marginality and the ‘underclass’ debate (right realism)

Shifts in criminology:
- Broken Windows Theory

Question 3

What did New Labour think about ABS?

Answer 3

‘Tough on crime, though on the causes of crime’ - Tony Blair 1993

• Antisocial behaviour was viewed, as undermining the government’s ‘law and order’ successes
• New Labour invested heavily in prevention and early intervention (psycho/social positivism)

Question 4

How did the New Labour define ASB?

Answer 4

‘Acting in a manner that cause 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 antisocial acts by the Defendant’ (Crime and Disorder Act 1998)

Question 5

What are the consequences of ASB?

Answer 5

1. Exacerbating tensions- young vs old, well-off vs dispossessed
2. Increase public anxiety
3. Undermine faith in legal institutions
4. Undermine public understanding and support for liberty, fairness, justice

Question 6

What are the three types of ASB defined by the Home Office?

Answer 6

Personal, Nuisance, Environmental

Personal: Captures incidents that are perceived as either deliberately targeted at an individual or group, or having an impact on an individual group rather than the community at large

Nuisance: captures incidents were 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

Question 7

What are the criticisms of ABS and its responses

Answer 7

1. Institutional Vigilantism (Carlen and Morgan, 1998): Refers to systems or institutions taking a punitive approach rather than supportive or rehabilitative measures.
2. Popular Punitivism (Burney, 2002): The growing public demand for harsher penalties and punitive measures in the justice system.
3. Criminalization of Social Policy (Rutherford, 2000): Social policies increasingly focus on punishment rather than care, often neglecting support for issues like poverty, substance abuse, mental health, and homelessness.

Question 8

What Pluralistic policies were put in place? (Powell and Flint 2009)

Answer 8

• Enhanced powers of eviction
• Probationary and demoted tenancies
• Good Neighbourhood Agreements
• Tenant reward schemes

Question 9

How does the Strain theory help to explain ASB?

Answer 9

→ Limited access to legitimate means of achieving shared goals

→ Disjuncture (gap) between goals and means = strain

Question 10

How does subcultural theories help explain ASB? (Cohen)

Answer 10

→ status frustrations and blocked opportunities

Question 11

What is the ‘Seductions of crime theory’ (Katz 1988)

Answer 11

→ Moral and sensual attractions of doing evil

→ Emphasis on pleasure and excitement

Question 12

How does Sociological Positivism and the Chicago school help to explain ASB?

Answer 12

→ ASB in less deprived areas: street drinking and young people ‘hanging around’

→ ASB in more deprived areas= drugs, verbal abuse, violence and nuisance neighbours

Question 13

What are 4 Perceptions of ASB (Millet et al 2005)

Answer 13

1. Misbehaving children and young people
2. Problems associated with misuse of drugs and, to lesser degree, alcohol
3. Neighbour disputes and ‘problem families’
4. A pervasive sense of powerlessness associated with all these problems

Question 14

Is Vandalism a form of ASB?

Answer 14

Vandalism in public and semi-public spaces is often perceived as a form of ASB but

Young people’s use of spaces is connected to
–> Autonomy
–> Self-expression
–> personalisation
–> Familiarity

Context is therefore subjective and important

Question 15

Who are the Victims of ASB?

Answer 15

• Tend to be concentrated: Neighbourhoods, streets, people
• Residential areas with high levels of social deprivation (Reece-Smith and Kirby 2012)
• ‘Hotspots’ (Sherman, 1989)
• 1% of people experiences 59% of personal crimes

Question 16

What are the impacts of ASB on Victims?

Answer 16

• fear
• stress
• Trying to move or considering moving house
• Anxiety
• Depression

Question 17

Are there blurred boundaries between ASB and other crimes…

Answer 17

YES

Covid-19 placed the issues of young people congregating in public spaces or having house parties in a different context

–> framed as public health issue rather than ASB