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Anti-social behaviour is a broad term to describe anything from graffiti to noisy neighbours, begging to harassing behaviour and although often assumed to be, is not just a youth problem.
The Crime and Justice act 1998 defines ASB as acting -
‘in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not in the same household as the perpetrator’.
The Oxford English dictionary states that antisocial is, ’harmful or annoying to other people, or to society in general.’(Oxford English dictionary, 1885).
It is going against what is socially acceptable behaviour.
Definitions of ASB differ between age groups with adults more likely interpreting public behaviour as antisocial (University of Cambridge, generation blame: how age effects our views of anti-social behaviour 2014)
Police recorded 1.8 million incidents of ASB in the year ending June 21.
This was an increase of 7% compared with the year before. Followed consistent decreases over the past 10 years.
28% adults personally witnessed or experienced anti-social behaviour in their area in the last 12 months.
January – March 2021 ASB incidents were up 46% compared to the same period in 2020. This is possibly due to COVID breaches being recorded as ASB.
49% adults noticed individuals breaching virus restrictions in their local area since the COVID pandemic began.
Dr Susie hully from Cambridge institute of criminology stated that “It is notable – and worrying - that young people’s presence in public places, regardless of their behaviour, was considered to be an ASB by four in ten adults,”
“The information that adults have about young people, for example from their negative portrayal in the media, often defines them in terms of the threat that they allegedly pose to adults.”
The broken windows theory, defined in 1982 by social scientists James Wilson and George Kelling, drawing on earlier research by Stanford University psychologist Philip Zimbardo, argues that no matter how rich or poor a neighborhood, one broken window would soon lead to many more windows being broken:
“One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing.”
Disorder increases levels of fear among citizens, which leads them to withdraw from the community and decrease participation in informal social control.
Crime and Justice Act [online]. Chapter 37 (1998) Legislation.gov.uk. Available from: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/37/contents [Accessed 21st January 2022]
Oxford English Dictionary. (2010) Oxford English Dictionary [online]. 3rd Edition. Oxford University Press. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Accessed 21st January 2022]
University of Cambridge (2014) Generation blame: how age affects our views of anti-social behaviour. [online]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available from: https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/generation-blame-how-age-affects-our-views-of-anti-social-behaviour [Accessed 21st January 2022]
Moon, N. and Small, L. (2010) Youth Taskforce Study of Perceptions in Youth Crime Action Plan Areas. [online]. [Accessed 21 January 2021]
Hulley, S. What is anti-social behaviour? An empirical study of the impact of age on interpretations. Crime Prev Community Saf 16, 20–37 (2014).
Broken Windows Theory
Wilson and Kelling (1982) – Public incivilities and deterioration (disorder) in urban neighbourhoods leads to increases in serious crime.Been credited as reducing crime in major cities such as New York City.
Opponents argue that it unfairly targets the homeless, the poor and minorities.