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ASBOs

Abolish ASBOs for children

The Howard League for Penal Reform today welcomed the Home Affairs Committee report on anti-social behaviour but said that the Government's strategy penalises children. The charity reiterated its call to abolish the Anti-Social Behaviour Order for children.

Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform said today: "Prevention and welfare should be the only factors when deciding how to respond to children who misbehave and penal sanctions should have no place. The Howard League for Penal Reform recognises that some children are very challenging and we appreciate the distress that serious anti-social behaviour can cause individuals or communities, but, in order to address this effectively, imaginative and effective child-centred interventions are needed."

"We fear that current legislation has the effect of widening the net of the criminal justice system, by criminalizing naughty children and their parents, the mentally ill and those in social housing. Anti-social behaviour legislation relies on a low burden of proof. It does not rely on an objective test of behaviour but on the reaction to that behaviour by others. Yet anti-social behaviour legislation uses the criminal justice system if the original order is breached. There is a blurring of the boundaries between civil and criminal law which serious implications for due process and the rights of the child."

"We call on all politicians to behave responsibly when discussing crime and anti-social behaviour during the election period. The Home Affairs Committee report indicates that fewer people now perceive anti-social behaviour to be a problem in their area and that is to be welcomed. It would therefore be irresponsible to whip up fear and loathing of already marginalised groups just for electoral advantage. We all need to work together to create a safer society."

The charity said that it is concerned about the vagueness and degree of interpretation regarding what constitutes anti-social behaviour and responses to it. It is our view that the current approach is punitive and is likely to exacerbate social exclusion, which, in turn, is likely to compound problems of anti-social behaviour rather than resolve them. People with difficult and chaotic lives need support not exclusion in order to be helped to change their lives.

Children have seemingly become the main focus of concern relating to anti-social behaviour in our communities.

• * Children have a right to use public spaces, yet groups of children can be dispersed if their presence is thought to cause distress. It is contradictory that children are encouraged to hang around in the arena of the school playground from a very young age yet when they continue this method of social interaction in the street it is characterised as menacing. Many children are in public spaces as no organised or structured activities like youth clubs exist, others may choose to spend time away from home due to the quality of their housing or domestic situation. Young people like to form informal and fluid social groups in public places where they feel safe, they do not want to sit down to dinner parties. Sweeping powers to disperse groups of young people may serve to increase young people ' s isolation, as well as miss an opportunity to support and help young people with problems that they may have.
• * In some areas, for example Manchester, we have become aware of leafelts carrying the names and photographs of children involved in anti-social behaviour. Such actions will put these individual children at risk and it may encourage even more anger and resentment in local communities fostering a ' lynch mob ' mentality. Indeed it appears that the leaflets were merely a publicity stunt at the expense of the children and not a crime prevention initiative as the helpline number provided was bogus with no one answering having any knowledge of what to do.
• * Evidence has shown that a policy of naming and shaming is counter-productive. Naming cannot be separated from shaming. Research from Australia (notably John Braithwaite) has shown that un-resolved shame, shaming without subsequent reintegration results in the rejection of the standards that are expected and increases the likelihood of reoffending.
• * Arguments that the public needs to know the prohibitions of an ASBO to enable them to report violations do not really stand up to scrutiny. Individuals affected by the anti-social behaviour would be aware of what is happening without publicity.
• * The Howard League for Penal Reform is alarmed at the number of children ending up in penal establishments as a result of breaching ASBOs. It is reported that Hassockfield Secure Training Centre holds 17% of its boys and 33% of its girls for breaching an ASBO (Donovan 2004). Involvement in activities that have only merited a civil sanction now lead to the use of the most severe sanction of the criminal justice system.
• * The Howard League for Penal Reform believes that the current upward trend in the numbers of juveniles held in penal establishments is not wholly unconnected with the use of imprisonment for those breaching ASBOs.
• * ASBOs are used exclusively against working class children.

The Howard League for Penal Reform welcomed the Home Affairs Committee recommendations for local authorities to take action on the irresponsible promotion of alcohol and financial contributions from outlets. The charity said that its own research showed that over 7,000 young men are received into prison each year because of offending, which they themselves say, is related to alcohol. The Howard League for Penal Reform is recommending that criminal justice agencies responsible for young offenders provide:

• * More accessible and meaningful alcohol awareness highlighting the damage that alcohol can do, taking into account the ways in which young people consume alcohol.
• * Recognition that abstinence focused approaches to tackling drinking are highly unlikely to be effective. More sophisticated approaches to tackling alcohol use should be adopted rather than following the drug misuse model which has largely focused on criminal justice, rather than health, interventions.
• * For criminal justice agencies to provide support and advice to young offenders in relation to alcohol use, alcohol-related health problems, and links between drinking and offending.

Further information

Frances Crook
Tel: 020 7249 7373 ext 108
Mob: 07778 740 653
Home: 01223 4107373

Anita Dockley
Tel: 020 7249 7373 ext 109
Mob: 07917 208 511

The Howard League for Penal Reform has an ISDN line available on 020 7923 4196 - it uses a G722 system

Frances Crook
Director
The Howard League for Penal Reform
1 Ardleigh Road
London N1 4HS
020 7249 7373 x 108
frances.crook@howardleague.org
www.howardleague.org

The Howard League for Penal Reform works for a safe society where fewer people are victims of crime. The Howard League for Penal Reform believes that offenders must make amends for what they done and change their lives. The Howard League for Penal Reform believes that community sentences make a person take responsibility and live a law-abiding life in the community.

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