The early days of the Labour government's third term in office have been full of talk of "respect". In his first press conference after being re-elected, Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke about "a loss of respect, in the classroom, on the street corner", adding that "people are rightly fed up with the street corner and shopping centre thugs, yobbish behaviour, sometimes from children as young as 10 or 11, whose parents should be looking after them".
The issue of respect and antisocial behaviour hit the headlines again a few days later, when the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent announced it was banning young people from wearing baseball caps and hooded tops on its premises (YPN, 18-24 May, p3). Blair and his deputy John Prescott both spoke out in support of the move, and Hazel Blears, the minister for policing, security and community safety, waded into the debate by suggesting that young people on community sentences should wear coloured uniforms to identify them (YPN, 18-24 May, p2).
Tough talk continues
Labour's election manifesto promised measures to deal with antisocial behaviour, so perhaps the early emphasis on this should come as no surprise.
But many groups thought the tough talk would evaporate once the campaign was over. Instead it seems to be snowballing, with more talk of "respect" in the Queen's Speech last week, and ongoing debate about the uniforms idea.
Pam Hibbert, policy development officer at Barnardo's, says that although the children's charity supports community sentences as an alternative to custody, the idea of identifying young people who have been given them is unhelpful. "If the way that someone gets their status is by being the 'bad boy' of the neighbourhood, then identifying them as the 'bad boy' is just going to make them carry on," she says.
Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of probation union Napo, says: "There is no evidence that degrading young people who have committed crimes works." He adds that banning young people who wear hoods from shopping centres is "absurd", and that each generation has young people who like to dress or act differently, and they should not be discriminated against.
Rachel Harrington, vice chair of the British Youth Council, is disappointed by the ban on wearing hoods. "It is just another example of this culture of demonising young people," she says. "If you actually look at the research, young people are more conservative and more socially responsible than ever before."
Whether the Government will push ahead with the proposal to introduce uniforms for young people on community sentences remains to be seen.
Robert Whelan, deputy director of right-wing think-tank Civitas, dismisses the idea, saying "politicians love to announce new measures". But Home Secretary Charles Clarke believes the idea has potential. In a statement, the Home Office said: "The Government wants to make work carried out by offenders in the community more visible and is looking at ways of improving this. Recognition of such work is critical to improving public confidence."
The high profile given to antisocial behaviour does suggest there will be new measures soon, but is it really a problem? Kate Stanley, head of social policy at Blairite think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), believes it is. "It's a problem because people think it is," she says. "But there are a few key concerns that aren't coming through the debate at the moment."
In particular, the IPPR has found there are problems with using antisocial behaviour as a "catch-all" term. "You need to respond to the low-level problem behaviour in one way, and the criminal behaviour in quite a different way," she says, adding that this is further complicated by people having different perceptions of what antisocial behaviour actually is.
She is also concerned that we don't yet know the best ways to deal with antisocial behaviour. "There is some evidence from local authorities that antisocial behaviour orders are useful," says Stanley. "But there is no clear evidence that they are the most effective way of tackling the problem."
Lock 'em up
Civitas's Whelan proposes a basic approach to problem behaviour. He says antisocial behaviour is simply crime, and all the offences covered by antisocial behaviour orders are already covered under criminal law. "We need to get the police and courts to get tough and send far more people to prison," he says, adding that prison capacity should be "doubled or trebled" to cope with the extra demand.
Richard Garside, director of the Crime and Society Foundation, sees the emphasis on "respect" as an attempt to re-badge antisocial behaviour.
"In the last Parliament, the Government spoke about what it was against," he says. "It looks like it now wants to talk more about what it is for."
Hibbert says that if adults want young people to show more respect they should start the process themselves: "There should be more respect," she says. "But as adults we have the responsibility to start that off."
See Briefing, p11, and Talking point, p20.
ANTISOCIAL LEGISLATION
- Antisocial behaviour orders were introduced in 1998 as part of the Crime and Disorder Act
- In 2003, the Antisocial Behaviour Act was introduced. This gave the police and other agencies more power to tackle "serious antisocial behaviour"
- These powers were extended in the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, which gave council and parish wardens the power to issue on-the-spot fines.
