ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

What is ASB?

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) includes a variety of behaviour covering a whole complex of selfish and unacceptable activity that can blight the quality of community life.

Examples include:

nuisance neighbours
rowdy and nuisance behaviour
yobbish behaviour and intimidating groups taking over public spaces
vandalism, graffiti and fly-posting
people dealing and buying drugs on the street
people dumping rubbish and abandoning cars
begging and anti-social drinking
the misuse of fireworks

Anti-social behaviour doesn't just make life unpleasant. It holds back the regeneration of disadvantaged areas and creates an environment where more serious crime can take hold.

On any measure of polling or survey, anti-social behaviour matters - it has a negative effect on far too many people’s quality of life. We are commited to tackling this problem.

Why does anti-social behaviour happen?

Many factors have been identified that, while they do not cause anti-social behaviour, do increase the risk of it happening. Four main areas have been identified (Source: Home Office, Research Development & Statistics, ASB - A collection of published evidence,2004):

Family environment

Risk factors include:

poor parental discipline and supervision
family conflict (between parents or between parents and children)
family history of problem behaviour
parental involvement/attitudes condoning problem behaviour

Schooling & educational attainment

Risk factors include:

aggressive behaviour (e.g. bullying)
lack of commitment to school
school disorganisation
school exclusion and truancy patterns
low achievement at school

Community life / accommodation / employment

Risk factors include:

community disorganisation and neglect
the availability of drugs and alcohol
lack of neighbourhood attachment
growing up in a deprived area within low income families, high rates of unemployment and a high turnover of population
areas where there are high levels of vandalism

Personal and individual factors

Risk factors include:

alienation and lack of social commitment
early involvement in problem behaviour
attitudes that condone problem behaviour
for young people, a high proportion of unsupervised time spent with peers and friends or peers involved in problem behaviour
mental illness
early involvement in the use of illegal drugs and crime

What we’re doing to tackle ASB risk factors

We’re committed to a range of supportive interventions which can engage individuals in changing their own behaviour and help them to tackle some of the underlying problems. Some of these include:

Individual Support Orders (ISOs)

ISOs are court orders for 10-17 year olds which impose positive conditions designed to tackle the underlying causes of a young person’s anti-social behaviour. We have recently increase the amount of funding available in 2005/06 to the Youth Justice Board (YJB) to fund Individual Support Orders (ISOs).

Agreements and contracts

This covers a range of formal non-legal agreements, contracts and warnings. Examples include acceptable behaviour contracts or agreements (ABCs or ABAs), ensuring tenancy agreements cover ASB issues and parenting contracts..They are all aimed at nipping problems in the bud.

Youth specific interventions

For example Youth Inclusion Programmes (YIP) which involve young people aged between 13 - 16 years who have been identified as being engaged in crime or identified as being the most at risk of offending, truancy, or social exclusion.

This text is Crown copyright & presented by courtesy of the Home Office. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/anti-social-behaviour/what-is-asb/

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WHAT YOU MUST DO AS A RESIDENT:

If you witness or suffer from or are disturbed at any time by anti-social behaviour in ur area report it immediately in the following manner:

1. The Police.... and then

2. ASB Hotline ....and then

3. Your Watch coordinator.

Be sure to get a crime reference number. Report everything no matter how trivial. Reporting is essential to assist the Police and the NAG tackle the problem in our area by indentifying times/places/hot-spots/sources/causes. Remember: if you don't report it then it did not happen!