The Government should consider shifting the emphasis of its campaign against anti-social behaviour (ASB) to show it can tackle the underlying causes, as well as taking a hard line with perpetrators, it is claimed.
Research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reveals that a majority 66 per cent of adults believe preventive action offers the most effective way to tackle rowdy, intimidating behaviour, vandalism and other anti-social behaviour.
Only 20 per cent interviewed in a specially-commissioned national survey regarded tough action against young people and others accused of ‘ASB’ as the best way forward, while another 11 per cent called for a combination of prevention and enforcement.
The new study, by researchers at King’s College London, suggests that even in neighbourhoods experiencing serious anti-social behaviour, residents offer conflicting explanations for the problems. Focus groups in some of the worst-affected areas found that while older residents tended to view ASB as a symptom of declining moral standards, others blamed it on social deprivation and the disengagement of a growing minority of young people and families. A third group took a ‘kids will be kids’ view, seeing ASB as a consequence of young people’s tendency to rebel, get into trouble and antagonise their elders.
What they say
Prof Mike Hough, Director of the Institute for Criminal Policy Research at King’s College and co-author of the study, said: โThe Government’s TOGETHER campaign against anti-social behaviour appeals to the ‘law-abiding majority’ to take a stand, portraying a struggle between ordinary, decent people and a tide of loutishness. The reality, suggested by our research, is more complicated. It suggests that the public want policy makers to balance tough enforcement through ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders) with strong, high-profile action to prevent problems and offer young people constructive alternatives to hanging around on the streets.โ
The research combined a national sample survey of adults over 16, conducted by the Office for National Statistics, with focus groups in three case study neighbourhoods.
