Being an ASB officer is incredibly exciting and rewarding but it's not always easy. An ASB officer's role is often underestimated and little support is currently available. There are no entry requirements for the profession. Induction and training programmes are often lacking or all too brief. Often, new officers are handed a caseload and expected to muddle their way through. Whilst officers strive to do their best, a lack of base-level knowledge can result in poor practice and untimely and indecisive action, leading to cases being open much longer than necessary and harm to victims being prolonged. Experience of working with many organisations has also shown that those who provide the best ASB service have things in common: they understand exactly what ASB is, conduct thorough investigations, manage risk effectively, truly work in partnership with other agencies and use the complete toolkit when deciding on action. The purpose of this book is to try to fill some of these gaps. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the five stages of ASB case management: report, investigation, action, monitor and close. It busts some of the common myths and misconceptions that prevent officers from progressing cases and resolving the problems. It is written in a user-friendly manner, using examples to illustrate key points. It would provide an excellent, off-the-shelf, introduction for anyone new to ASB, as well as a useful reference tool for more experienced officers. Whilst primarily tailored for officers tackling ASB in the social housing sector, much of the information contained would be equally useful for anyone managing private sector cases. It would also be useful for other partners who work with social housing providers and wish to know more about the work that they undertake.

The aim of this White Paper is to set out proposals to deal with anti-social behaviour. Anti-social behaviour is a broad term used to describe the day-to-day incidents of crime, nuisance and disorder that make many people's lives a misery - from litter and vandalism, to public drunkenness or aggressive dogs, to noisy or abusive neighbours. Such a wide range of behaviours means that responsibility is shared between a number of agencies, particularly the police, councils and social landlords. The Government is committed to significant reform in dealing with crime and anti-social behaviour by putting victims at the heart of the response, including: (1) Agencies identifying vulnerable and repeat victims earlier, and responding at the first sign of trouble, through better logging of calls and managing of cases; (2) A simpler toolkit, with 19 powers reduced to just six, including an injunction which can be secured in a matter of hours not months, to nip behaviour in the bud; (3) Tough orders which can deal with anti-social behaviour if it escalates into criminality, which are flexible enough to deal with a range of yobbish behaviour including out of control dogs, public drunkenness, minimotos and others; (4) The community getting involved in tackling anti-social behaviour, for example through inputting into a Community Harm Statement to highlight to the court the impact of the behaviour on their daily lives; (5) Agencies held to account locally by directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners, and by victims through the Government's new Community Trigger.

The draft Anti-Social Behaviour Bill was published on 13 December 2012 (Cm.8495, ISBN 9780101849524). It is the Government's intention to tidy up the tool-kit for dealing with anti-social behaviour (ASB) and to involve victims and communities more directly in dealing with the problems. The Committee found the following: (i) Rationalising the number of anti-social behaviour (ASB) powers is welcome; (ii) Key elements necessary to tackle ASB are missing: good inter-agency working, intelligent information sharing and a network of services; (iii) The move away from automatic criminalisation for breach of an Injunction is positive, but the powers are far too wide; (iv) The "Community Remedy" must not "become the modern pillory or stocks": officers must have the discretion to choose alternative disposals; (v) The "Community Trigger" will not be effective against persistent ASB unless there is a national limit on the number of complaints that can be made before action is taken. The Committee recommended the following: (i) Strengthen the Community Trigger so that authorities that do not deal with ASB are identified and held to account; (ii) Set up a new National Anti-social Behaviour Forum headed by a chief constable, a housing association chief executive, and a local council leader, for a term of two years; (iii) End the arms race against Anti-social Behaviour by setting reasonable limits on the behaviour covered by the new powers.

This volume explores an issue of growing importance to policy makers, academics, housing practitioners and students. It provides a range of theoretical perspectives, critical analysis and empirical research findings about the role of housing and urban governance in addressing anti-social behaviour.

Anti-social Behaviour : Fifth report of session 2004-05, Vol. 3: Oral and additional written Evidence

Antisocial behaviour and conduct disorders are the most common reason for referral to child and adolescent mental health services and have a significant impact on the quality of life of children and young people and their parents and carers. Rates of other mental health problems (including antisocial personality disorder) are considerably increased for adults who had a conduct disorder in childhood. This new NICE guideline seeks to address these problems by offering advice on prevention strategies and a range of psychosocial interventions.It reviews the evidence across the care pathway, encompassing access to and delivery of services, experience of care, selective prevention interventions, case identification and assessment, psychological and psychosocial indicated prevention and treatment interventions, and pharmacological and physical interventions.Readership: Intended for healthcare professionals in CAMHS, but this will also be useful to professionals in primary care (as there is much emphasis on recognition).

"Published for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation by The Policy Press"--T.p. verso.