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ASBO use doubles in three years
20/09/2007
Research into the use of Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) in Scotland was published today.
The findings were welcomed by Minister for Community Safety Fergus Ewing, who said it would help inform the Scottish Government's review of approaches to tackling antisocial behaviour.
Researchers examined a range of issues around the use of antisocial behaviour orders by both local authorities and housing associations, including the application process, circumstances in which ASBOs were considered and other measures used instead of or alongside the orders.
Findings included:
- A doubling in the number of ASBOs over three years (2004/05-05/06), but activity concentrated in a small number of authorities
- Process and timescale improvements, helping agencies to address serious antisocial behaviour quickly and efficiently
- Appreciable numbers of cases involving 12-to-15-year-olds being reviewed under multi-agency arrangements, but only a very small proportion leading to formal 'under-16 ASBO' applications
- A significant proportion of ASBO cases reviewed allegedly involved criminal activities, alongside lower-level offending, including a substantial number where the alleged offence was serious
- While the measure was not exact, the proportion of ASBOs breached was estimated at around one in three, with action taken suggesting that a breach was taken seriously by housing providers, police and the courts
- In one in five cases reviewed, there was a perceived substantial improvement in perpetrator behaviour following the ASBO being granted, while no improvement was perceived in 31 per cent
Mr Ewing said:
"We're reviewing the antisocial behaviour strategy and have begun talks with key agencies, including police and councils, as part of that process.
"This report provides a helpful contribution to the evidence base as we seek to help build safer and stronger communities across the country.
"Over the period of the study the number of ASBOs doubled and the researchers identified improvements in the application process, which they said had provided authorities with the means of addressing serious antisocial behaviour quickly and efficiently.
"However, they also found many local authorities adopting different approaches which involved considerably less use of ASBOs.
"While ASBOs can help bring much-needed relief to hard-pressed communities, they are but one 'tool in the box' of enforcement measures.
"On their own, ASBOs can't solve the deep-seated problems which have fuelled much of the lawlessness in too many of our communities and which the Scottish Government is determined to tackle for the long-term.
"However, they can be useful when used alongside other interventions - such as neighbour mediation services, acceptable behaviour contracts or youth diversion activities - aimed at building safer, stronger communities.
"In all of this, we will work to instil a culture of personal and collective responsibility - driven by a determination to promote good behaviour as well as punishing bad and guided by the principle that prevention is better than cure in reducing crime and antisocial behaviour."
Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) are civil orders, introduced by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, to prevent behaviour causing or likely to cause alarm or distress to others. Breaches are a criminal offence.
Part 2 of The Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004 made changes to existing ASBO provisions, as well as extending them to cover 12-15 year olds. Although breach of an 'under-16' ASBO cannot be punished through imprisonment, it is a criminal offence.
The 2004 Act also introduced ASBOs on conviction in the criminal courts - sometimes known as CrASBOs. Available as part of a sentence, CrASBOs - as with ASBOs imposed in civil courts - aim to help prevent further antisocial behaviour, but specifically in relation to incidents which the police have reported to the procurator fiscal and criminal proceedings are taken. CrASBOs are not covered by the research.
The 125-page study report by DTZ Consulting & Research and Heriot-Watt University was commissioned by the previous administration to build on existing research and fulfil a statutory requirement to report to Parliament on the operation of ASBOs in Scotland within three years of the legislation coming into force.