ASBOs

This page considers community notification - and 'naming & shaming' - under Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) regimes.

It covers -

• introduction
• notification
• studies

     introduction

The preceding pages have dealt with registration and notification of criminal offences, in particular sexual offences. Some jurisdictions are exploring community notification regarding individuals who have not been convicted in criminal proceedings but are instead subject to restraint under anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs).

Proponents of such orders argue that the notification aspect of ASBOs are different to offender registers. Critics characterise them as "institutionalised spite", as legal vilification through "naming and shaming" by local government, as a placebo or as an inappropriate substitute for parental responsibility. Others have welcomed them as an evolution of traditional public order legislation and practice, as a mechanism for addressing concerns such as stalking and as a basis for community involvement in policing.

As the name suggests, ASBOs are civil orders made by a court that prohibit a perpetrator from specific anti-social acts and from entering defined areas, aka exclusion zones. In the UK the Crime & Disorder Act 1998 (extended by the Police Reform Act 2002, the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 and Serious Organised Crime & Police Act 2005) defines acting in an anti-social manner as

a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as the complainant.

The UK regime is thus wider than the Apprehended Violence Orders (AVOs) used in Australia and discussed in more detail here.

The UK government in promoting ASBOs has stated that they are civil orders rather than criminal penalties and are not intended to punish the offender. The expectation instead is that an ASBO will prohibit that person from continuing to engage in specified anti-social activities or entering defined locations, in order to protect the public in those areas.

ASBOs in the UK are issued for a minimum of two years. They are typically imposed by magistrates' courts after civil proceedings, based on an application by a local authority or the police. They may be imposed on the basis of hearsay evidence. An Order may be appealed (PDF). Breaching an ASBO is a criminal offence, carrying a penalty of up to five years' imprisonment, even if the original offence was not an imprisonable one.

Some of 3,826 ASBOs were made from their introduction in April 1999 to September 2004, most on people under 30 years old.

     notification

The UK legislation provides for dissemination of information identifying those individuals subject to ASBOs.

The government thus indicates that

The purpose of anti-social behaviour orders is to protect local people from the harassment, alarm or distress that is caused, or likely to be caused, by anti-social behaviour.
The orders are an innovative and effective method of prohibiting anti-social behaviour, offering protection, and reassuring victims, witnesses and communities that disorder will be addressed. In many cases they have rescued whole communities from the menace of one person. Unless the nuisance is extremely localised, effective enforcement of the order will normally depend on the general public being aware of the conditions of the order and of the identity of the person against who it is made. Publicity reassures the community that action is being taken, provides them with the information to report a breach and can act as a deterrent to other whose nuisance behaviour impinges on the quality of life of others.

The claimed purposes and benefits of publicity are

• Enforcement - "by informing local people of the prohibitions imposed by the order, they are able to identify and report breaches to the police, or to local authorities, social landlords or other bodies who can pass the information to the police for investigation".
• Public reassurance about safety and confidence in local services - "Local people are made aware that local agencies will take action to protect them from anti-social behaviour, that they should not tolerate anti-social behaviour, and that local agencies will respond to reports of anti-social behaviour".
• Deterrent to the specific perpetrator and to other perpetrators - "publicity sends out a message that action will be taken against those who deliberately destroy the quality of life of others, and therefore can act as a deterrent to others who choose to act in an anti-social manner".

Critic ASBO Concern comments

people subject to asbos can now also be "named and shamed" with their photographs and details published in local papers and on leaflets distributed in the area where they live. Even children can be "named and shamed" in this way. Naming and shaming can stigmatise whole families and communities. It can lead to vigilante attacks. It can also, perversely, lead to asbos being seen by their recipients as "a badge of honour" - hardly an outcome that helps reduce anti-social behaviour.

That has been echoed by the Liberty advocacy group (PDF), which unsuccessfully claimed that Brent Council and the Metropolitan Police in publicising information about three youths - including information online - had breached Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Releasing information about young offenders has also been criticised as a breach of Article 40 (2) (vii) of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, which requires signatories to guaranteed privacy to children in conflict with the law "at all stages of the proceedings".

In practice the UK has not developed a central, publicly-accessible online ASBO register.

Whitehall's guidance notes for local government notes that "there are no automatic reporting restrictions on ASBOs made in any court and the media, especially the local press, have been keen to report ASBOs issued against local people."

It indicates that

it is recommended that publicity be distributed to targeted households immediately after the order has been granted and by at least a week after the court date.Local people should be informed when variation or discharge of an order relevant to them is made. The method of publicity can include the following:
• local print and television media;
• local leaflet drop;
• local newsletter.
Practitioners need to apply the proportionality test when deciding which method is appropriate. Leaflets and other printed materials such as posters or residents' newsletters allow local agencies to target particular neighbourhoods, streets or households with information. The public can be informed about an ASBO at any time - publicity can be issued and re-issued according to the circumstances. However, publicity needs to be timely to ensure that people are able to enforce the order as soon as it has been granted and to reassure the public that something is being done.

Personal information that might be featured in any publicity includes

• the individual's name, age and/or a description
• a photograph of the individual
• the individual's address
• a summary of the individual's anti-social behaviour and/or extracts from the magistrate's findings when making the ASBO
• a summary of or extracts from the terms of the ASBO
• identification of any relevant exclusion zone (illustrated on a map)
• details of conditions of non-associations named on the order, particularly where associates are also subject to ASBOs or have a recent history of anti-social behaviour
• the manner in which the public can report breaches (eg names, telephone numbers, addresses, possibility of anonymous reporting)
• the names of local agencies responsible for obtaining the ASBO and local victim support, police and housing services contact numbers, "with reassurance that reports will be treated in confidence"
• the identity of the group to be targeted by the publicity
• those are suspected to have been subject to anti-social behaviour by the individual
• the date of publication and expiry date of the order

     studies

Studies include Blackstone's guide to the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 (Oxford: Oxford Uni Press 2004) by Jonathan Manning, Claire-Louise Manning & Victoria Osler.

For UK debate about standards, hooliganism, shaming and community policing see Neighbours from hell: the politics of behaviour (London: Politico's 2003) by Frank Field, the 2005 UK House of Commons Home Affairs Committee Anti-Social Behaviour report (PDF) and Use of Antisocial Behaviour Orders in Scotland: Report of the 2004/05 Survey (PDF).

    next page  (studies and landmarks)