RESPECT issue one // april 2004
tackling antisocial behaviour
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welcome
Welcome to the first respect newsletter of the Scottish Executive's Antisocial Behaviour Unit respect stands for Rewarding, Supporting, Protecting and Empowering our Communities. We chose the title respect for our newsletter because it goes to the heart of what we all want to see in our communities. People showing self-respect, showing respect for their immediate neighbours and their property and showing respect for the wider community. If we can encourage respect, we will go a long way towards ridding our communities of the scourge of antisocial behaviour. People across Scotland have to put up with antisocial behaviour every day of their lives, and they are totally fed up. Ministers have listened to people's concerns and have put tackling antisocial behaviour at the top of their priorities for the second Parliament. The respect newsletter, which we will produce every 3-4 months, will tell you what the Executive is doing with local councils, the police and other organisations, to tackle antisocial behaviour. It will keep you in touch with what is happening up and down the country. In the first newsletter, we tell you about: - the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Bill, which is now going through the Scottish Parliament;
- the money the Executive is spending on tackling antisocial behaviour;
- the introduction of community warden schemes in Scotland; and
- the work we are doing to increase restorative justice schemes for young offenders.
I hope you enjoy reading it. Alisdair McIntosh, Head of Antisocial Behaviour Unit |
what's happened so far?
We published the consultation paper Putting Our Communities First on 26 June last year, which we are sure many of you will recognise!
Putting Our Communities First
set out what we thought we should do to tackle antisocial behaviour and asked you what you thought. For example, should an offender be made to do unpaid work in the community he/she has damaged? Should Antisocial Behaviour Orders be extended to under-16s?
But Scottish Ministers did not think that sending out a written document was enough. They believed it was really important to hear, at first hand, from people like you about their experiences of antisocial behaviour.
So Ministers visited over 30 communities, from Inverurie to Inverclyde, from Stranraer to Stirling. Maybe you attended one of these meetings. Even if you didn't, you won't be surprised to hear that the same message came up time and time again - people are fed up with having to deal with antisocial behaviour and are desperate for change.
"Our job as politicians is to listen - and act - on the concerns of those who elect us. A major concern of Scots of all ages across all communities is antisocial behaviour. Antisocial behaviour in all its forms is not acceptable in Scotland any longer. We will not let the behaviour of a small minority have such a corrosive impact on the lives of the majority."
Jack McConnell, First Minister
The consultation ended on 11 September and we received over 300 formal responses together with piles of letters, petitions and other correspondence, including the views and ideas of local people who met with Ministers.
If you sent us a response to the consultation you will have already received a copy of the summary of the responses. If you do not have a copy you can get one from us (contact details on the back page) or log on to our website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/social/stabrf-00.asp
The many responses to the consultation - letters, petitions, formal responses, community meetings - were very helpful in shaping the Executive's thinking on how to deal with antisocial behaviour, including the Antisocial Behaviour Bill.
what is the antisocial behaviour (scotland) bill?
This is the Executive's flagship Bill for the second term of the Scottish Parliament. It was introduced in Parliament on 29 October. The Bill reflects the pressing concerns of people like yourselves in communities blighted by antisocial behaviour.
The Bill has attracted a lot of attention. You have probably seen lots about it in the newspapers - and heard lots of different views. For instance, communities asked for the police to be given more powers to move on groups of people who are intimidating others. But some people are opposed to this.
We believe the Bill will give a more effective range of powers to the police and local councils to allow them to tackle antisocial behaviour more quickly and effectively. For example,
it will introduce:
- parenting orders - to ensure parents act in the best interests of their children
- powers for local authorities to hold to account private landlords who do not deal with their antisocial tenants
- fixed penalty notices for noisy neighbours.
But it is not simply about more enforcement. Your local council and police, together with communities like yourselves, will also have to develop local strategies to tackle antisocial behaviour.
If you want to read more about the Bill you can log on to the Scottish Parliament website at: www.scottish.parliament.uk/bills/index.htm#12
more money for tackling antisocial behaviour
In addition to the many millions the Executive spends on tackling the underlying causes and effects of antisocial behaviour, an extra 95 million has been made available in 2004-6.
- 30 million is going to local councils to set up community warden schemes and other community-based initiatives to tackle antisocial behaviour, such as victim support and neighbour mediation teams.
- 35 million is going to support the implementation of the Antisocial Behaviour Bill, and in particular, measures such as Antisocial Behaviour Orders for under-16s, Parenting Orders and Community Reparation Orders, and to support diversionary activity, restorative justice and information/support for victims.
- A further 30 million will be spent on a combination of help for local councils to put in place services that will bring real, practical benefits to communities suffering from antisocial behaviour - services that will help people report incidents, support them when they do and help resolve neighbour disputes before they get out of hand - and central support from the Executive to pilot innovative approaches and support best practice.
community wardens
If the mention of the word "warden" makes you think of Mr MacKay from the TV show "Porridge", get ready to start watching the streets in April. Community wardens are coming to streets in selected neighbourhoods and areas right across Scotland.
Neighbourhoods deemed by local authorities and their partners to be most in need will see community wardens out and about: patrolling the streets, organising graffiti or litter clear-ups, and generally tackling the priorities of the community. Local community wardens will be a friendly point of contact, happy to get to know the communities they serve.
With no police powers, community wardens should not be mistaken as a substitute for the bobby on the beat. That is not their job. Instead, the work of wardens will complement the work of the police. And we know from pilot schemes already up and running that wardens can make a real difference to people's lives.
To find out where wardens will be located, what they will do, and who to contact to learn more about your scheme log on to the website: www.scotland.gov.uk/about/DD/H3/00014328/page1988764371.aspx
spotlight on...
In each newsletter we will tell you about some schemes in place to tackle particular problems. This time the Spotlight is on Youth Crime.
"making good and making up" for youth crime
Most young people are a credit to themselves, their communities and Scotland. But there is a small minority who give other young people a bad name.
One of the many things the Executive is doing in the area of youth crime is to increase the use of restorative justice approaches across Scotland.
Restorative Justice - what's that?
Restorative Justice is where young people who offend are faced with the impact of their offence. Sometimes they come face to face with victims to say sorry or they can make good the damage done to the community. This approach balances the concerns of the victim and the community and helps young people to understand the harm they cause to themselves and others by their behaviour.
But does it work?
Yes - with upwards of two-thirds of young people. Here are some examples of restorative justice projects:
In East Lothian the Restorative Justice Project worked with 127 young people. A 6-monthly follow-up was carried out to find out if there has been further offending. It found 77% did not re-offend in 6 months.
The SACRO (Fife) Young Offender Mediation Project. Between January 1996 and October 1998 the project dealt with 343 individuals. From a sample of 87 young people, 54 (62%) of these were not referred to the Children's Reporter again in the following 12 months.
The Offence Resolution Project (ORP) is a co-operative venture operating in the Scottish Borders. What happens is young people who have committed crimes like vandalism, minor assault or shoplifting are diverted by the Children's Reporter into the ORP. A review of the project found re-offending rates among those involved down by 70%.
There are now 3,000 places across Scotland. We intend to double that number by 2006 and have just announced additional funding of 3 million to local authorities to help them do this.
watch this space
We will issue respect quarterly. By the time the next respect newsletter comes out the Antisocial Bill may be through Parliament and in some places community wardens will have hit the streets.
We will keep you posted about these and other developments.
Please let us know what you think.
tel: 0131 244 4919 e-mail:asbmail@scotland.gsi.gov.uk