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The Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) was designed as a civil/criminal hybrid, preventive in structure and with a largely undefined object. After 2002, legal challenges to the ASBO led to the use of justificatory arguments from cumulative effect, and to the introduction of new measures which offered to regulate anti-social behaviour in more legally acceptable forms. In 2014 the Coalition government replaced the ASBO with two new instruments: a post-conviction Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) and a wholly-civil anti-social behaviour injunction (ASB Injunction). While the CBO and the ASB Injunction build on this history, it is argued that they do not represent a new approach to anti-social behaviour so much as a continuation of the ASBO by other means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ongoing commitment to tackling anti-social behaviour was a central part of the New Labour policy agenda throughout their 13 years in government. Their policy and practice became increasingly enforcement-led with the anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) at the cornerstone of their agenda. Police and local authorities came under pressure to see the ASBO, along with a whole range of other enforcement powers, as almost a panacea for tackling anti-social behaviour and, in particular, youth disorder. This article draws upon the literature, the authors’ own evaluation experience and recently released statistics from the Ministry of Justice and the British Crime Survey to examine the legacy of New Labour in terms of tackling anti-social behaviour. These are discussed within the context of the Coalition Government’s emerging ideas about how best to tackle anti-social behaviour, including their plans to abandon the ASBO along with other enforcement measures introduced under New Labour. We suggest that rather than abandoning the ASBO altogether, there may be advantages to ‘rehabilitating’ the ASBO within the context of a range of more far-sighted and proactive community-based measures. We discuss the lessons to be learnt from New Labour’s legacy and discuss ways forward within the context of coalition government policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) was given central place in the 2004–2008 Home Office Strategic Plan, Tony Blair describing his government's policy agenda as a cultural ‘crusade’. Scholarly attention has often focused upon the implementation of the ASB management agenda but rather less attention has been given to the fast-moving politics behind the developing ASB debate. Following an introductory discussion connecting the ‘narrow politics’ of ASB strategy to a wider analysis of social divisions and the state of cultural politics in contemporary Britain, the article proceeds to consider ‘four phases’ embracing key changes, developments and turning points in the politics of ASB.British Politics (2008) 3, 300–323. doi:10.1057/bp.2008.16 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government responses to 'anti-social behaviour' have included, amongst others, two trends that employ shame in pursuit of crime prevention: "naming and shaming" of those subject to anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) on one hand and restorative justice on the other. This article considers how the Government has made use of each, the dynamics of each shaming process, and the compatibility of these approaches. It argues that they are mutually exclusive, and that restorative justice should be preferred as a potentially more constructive shaming process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]