This book vigorously challenges the dominant academic view of ASBOs as erroneous tools of social control, and offers an alternative perspective on anti-social behaviour management which argues that ASBOs are capable of enabling a positive process of engagement among local authorities, housing professionals and residents.

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) has been a major preoccupation of New Labour's project of social and political renewal, with ASBOs a controversial addition to crime and disorder management powers. Thought by some to be a dangerous extension of the power to criminalise, by others as a vital dimension of local governance, there remains a concerning lack of evidence as to whether or not they compound social exclusion. This collection, from an impressive panel of contributors, brings together opinion, commentary, research evidence, professional guidance, debate and critique in order to understand the phenomenon of anti-social behaviour. It considers the earliest available evidence in order to evaluate the Government's ASB strategy, debates contrasting definitions of anti-social behaviour and examines policy and practice issues affected by it. Contributors ask what the recent history of ASB governance tells us about how the issue will develop to shape public and social policies in the years to come. Reflecting the perspectives of practitioners, victims and perpetrators, the book should become the standard text in the field.

'Anti-social behaviour' has become a label attached to a huge range of nuisance and petty crime, and rarely out of the headlines as tackling this problem has become a central part of the British government's crime control policy. At the same time 'anti-social behaviour' has provided the lever for control mechanisms ranging from the draconian to the merely bureaucratic, most notably in the shape of the Anti-Social Behaviour Order, or ASBO. This book seeks to explain why anti-social behaviour, as a focus of political rhetoric, legislative activity and social action, has gained such a high profile in Britain in recent years, and it provides a critical examination of current policies of enforcement and exclusion. It examines both the political roots of the variety of new measures which have been introduced and also the deeper social explanations for the unease expressed about anti-social behaviour more generally. This updated new edition of Making People Behave takes full account of recent legal and policy changes, including the 'Respect' agenda, as well as relevant research on the subject. It also contains two wholly new chapters, one of them devoted to the expanding web of behaviour controls, the other on Scotland which provides an alternative to the enforcement-oriented approach evident in England and Wales – complementing the wider coverage in the book of developments in North America and Europe.

This book seeks to explain why anti-social behavior, as a focus of political rhetoric, legislative activity and social action, has gained a high profile in Britain in recent years, and it provides a critical examination of current policies of enforcement and exclusion. It also analyzes the thematic elements in the drive against anti-social behavior, within the wider law and order agenda. Public concern about anti-social behavior is real enough, and it remains high on the political agenda. This book will describe the wide range of offensiveness and incivility involved, showing different intensity and causation. It will examine the methods adopted to deal with anti-social behavior and particularly the increasingly managed response orchestrated by the government, and evident in new and recent legislation. These concerns are not confined to Britain, and this book also seeks to situate the growing concern with anti-social behavior with developments in both North America and Europe.

ASBOs were designed to tackle real problems in local communities such as the misery and distress caused by conduct involving harassment, alarm and distress. Acting as a guide to this area of law, this book examines the practice and procedure of the criminal courts and the county court from the standpoint of a practitioner acting for the defendant.