Anti-Social Behaviour

Rise of the ASBO

The most publicised piece of anti-social behaviour law of the past decade has been the acronymically known ABSOs, full name anti-social behaviour orders. Introduced by Tony Blair and Labour in 1998, they were designed to tackle people who repeatedly committed petty offences and who would normally not have been prosecuted. They generally prohibit access to a particular area where the anti-social behaviour is committed, or attempt to stop the behaviour itself. In the twelve years following the inception of ASBOSs a large body of case law has accumulated that defines what is required for an ASBO and the procedure to get one. In July 2010 the new Home Secretary Theresa May announced that the coalition government had plans to abolish ABSOs, but as of November 2010 nothing has been reported of any follow up to this verbal pronouncement and ASBOS still remain in effect.

The law relating to anti-social behaviour runs through many other sections of law. Landlord and tenant law and social housing law include anti-social behavioural injunctions (ASBIs), which are similar to ASBOs. Other aspects of law that conjoin these housing laws and anti-social behaviour are possession, trespass and nuisance, and planning remedies.

Environmental law is sometimes related to anti-social behaviour when it comes to noise, nuisance and waste. Education law becomes concerned with anti-social behaviour when dealing with such things as truancy, exclusions and general behavioural problems at schools.

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