ASBOs alone risk being a sticking plaster, says bishop
-13/06/06
The Rt Rev Stephen Lo
ASBOs alone risk being a sticking plaster, says bishop
-13/06/06
The Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, the Anglican Bishop of Hulme, has told the government that over-reliance on Anti-Social Behaviour Orders against unruly youngsters risks becoming a ìsticking plasterî approach to urban disorder.
An ASBO is a civil order made against a person, of whatever age, who has been shown to have engaged in conduct which ìhas caused or is likely to cause alarm, harassment or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as him- or herself.î
Cases covered have included vandalism, harassment, fly-posting, ëloitering with menaceí and excessive noise.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4, the bishop, who has a long-standing involvement in urban development issues, said that ASBOs were undoubtedly welcomed by many people on local estates.
But he added that they did not tackle the underlying issues of misbehaviour, and that the worry was that in some cases ASBOs and police dispersal orders merely moved the problem from one place to another.
ASBOs were introduced in England and Wales in 1998 and strengthened in 2003. In Scotland they came in 2004, but run alongside a more developed welfare-based approach to child misbehaviour.
Anti-Social Behaviour Orders have been a flagship policy for PM Tony Blair, with Labour councils rigorously enforcing them ñ following years of Conservative jibes about being ìsoft on crimeî.
But the new Liberal Democrat-led administration in Camden, which took control on 5 May 2006, is among those councils which have said it wants a careful review of the effectiveness of ASBOs, to weigh up both the benefits and difficulties they pose.
Bishop Stephen Lowe, who has recently been involved with the new churchesí urban life report, Faithful Cities, says that some of the problems ASBOs are meant to address seem to have worsened by the dissolution of youth and community services over the past 30 years.
Civil rights campaigners, lawyers, youth workers and penal reformers have been critical of ASBOs, too ñ saying that they ìtarget young peopleî, risk criminalising minor misbehaviour, and put people on a ìconveyor beltî to the already over-crowded prison system.
In itself, receiving an ASBO does not amount to a criminal offence, but breaking the order does and can lead to a custodial sentence.
Tenants and residents in areas which have been blighted by vandalism and hooliganism say that in some cases ASBOs have ìchanged their livesî. But statistics show that 40-50 per cent of the orders are breached, and that in those cases half the recipients end up receiving a prison term.
Bishop Lowe says he understands the feelings of those who say ASBOs have made their lives liveable after years of disturbance, and welcomes this. But he suggests that supporting parents and communities, providing alternative facilities for young people, combatting poverty, and a wider range of urban redevelopment policies are needed.
The government acknowledges such criticisms, but seems largely unmoved by them ñ with politicians often seeing ASBOs as a vote-winner.
A MORI opinion poll published last year said that 82 per cent of the British public were in favour of ASBOs, but only 39% believed they were effective in their current form. Nearly 7,500 have been issued in England and Wales alone.
Meanwhile the churches say that the physical, social, cultural, economic and spiritual regeneration of cities and estates is the big challenge.
[Also on Ekklesia: Controversial Faithful Cities report launched; Wealth needs to be shared, says Faithful Cities commission; Church Urban Fund commits to challenging poverty in England; Buy ‘Faithful Cities’ here; Use wealth to fight poverty, says church action group; Make UK poverty history, says church action group]
ASBOs alone risk being a sticking plaster, says bishop
-13/06/06
The Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, the Anglican Bishop of Hulme, has told the government that over-reliance on Anti-Social Behaviour Orders against unruly youngsters risks becoming a ìsticking plasterî approach to urban disorder.
An ASBO is a civil order made against a person, of whatever age, who has been shown to have engaged in conduct which ìhas caused or is likely to cause alarm, harassment or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as him- or herself.î
Cases covered have included vandalism, harassment, fly-posting, ëloitering with menaceí and excessive noise.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4, the bishop, who has a long-standing involvement in urban development issues, said that ASBOs were undoubtedly welcomed by many people on local estates.
But he added that they did not tackle the underlying issues of misbehaviour, and that the worry was that in some cases ASBOs and police dispersal orders merely moved the problem from one place to another.
ASBOs were introduced in England and Wales in 1998 and strengthened in 2003. In Scotland they came in 2004, but run alongside a more developed welfare-based approach to child misbehaviour.
Anti-Social Behaviour Orders have been a flagship policy for PM Tony Blair, with Labour councils rigorously enforcing them ñ following years of Conservative jibes about being ìsoft on crimeî.
But the new Liberal Democrat-led administration in Camden, which took control on 5 May 2006, is among those councils which have said it wants a careful review of the effectiveness of ASBOs, to weigh up both the benefits and difficulties they pose.
Bishop Stephen Lowe, who has recently been involved with the new churchesí urban life report, Faithful Cities, says that some of the problems ASBOs are meant to address seem to have worsened by the dissolution of youth and community services over the past 30 years.
Civil rights campaigners, lawyers, youth workers and penal reformers have been critical of ASBOs, too ñ saying that they ìtarget young peopleî, risk criminalising minor misbehaviour, and put people on a ìconveyor beltî to the already over-crowded prison system.
In itself, receiving an ASBO does not amount to a criminal offence, but breaking the order does and can lead to a custodial sentence.
Tenants and residents in areas which have been blighted by vandalism and hooliganism say that in some cases ASBOs have ìchanged their livesî. But statistics show that 40-50 per cent of the orders are breached, and that in those cases half the recipients end up receiving a prison term.
Bishop Lowe says he understands the feelings of those who say ASBOs have made their lives liveable after years of disturbance, and welcomes this. But he suggests that supporting parents and communities, providing alternative facilities for young people, combatting poverty, and a wider range of urban redevelopment policies are needed.
The government acknowledges such criticisms, but seems largely unmoved by them ñ with politicians often seeing ASBOs as a vote-winner.
A MORI opinion poll published last year said that 82 per cent of the British public were in favour of ASBOs, but only 39% believed they were effective in their current form. Nearly 7,500 have been issued in England and Wales alone.
Meanwhile the churches say that the physical, social, cultural, economic and spiritual regeneration of cities and estates is the big challenge.
[Also on Ekklesia: Controversial Faithful Cities report launched; Wealth needs to be shared, says Faithful Cities commission; Church Urban Fund commits to challenging poverty in England; Buy ‘Faithful Cities’ here; Use wealth to fight poverty, says church action group; Make UK poverty history, says church action group]