Anti-social Behaviour

What does it all mean?

ABC – Anti-Social Behaviour Contract
A voluntary agreement between the individual and a Community Safety Partnership. It provides a set of guidelines that the perpetrator must abide by.

ASB – Anti-Social Behaviour
Anti-Social Behaviour is defined as behaviour by an individual or group that results in another party feeling personally threatened; or creates a public nuisance; or has a detrimental impact upon the environment and thereby has a detrimental effect upon the quality of life of an individual or the community as a whole.

ASBO – Anti-Social Behaviour Order
These orders are imposed by the court, which sets out prohibitions for an individual to prevent anti-social behaviour from reoccurring. These may include exclusions from an area and prohibition of certain actions to protect the community. A breach of an ASBO is an arrestable offence and carries up to a five-year custodial sentence.

CRASBO – Criminal Anti-Social Behaviour Order
These are Anti-Social Behaviour Orders made on conviction of a criminal offence. There is no difference in the result of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) and an Anti-Social Behaviour Order on conviction (CRASBO). The only difference is the method in obtaining them.

Dispersal Order
A dispersal order provides the police with additional powers to disperse groups of two or more people, where an officer has reasonable grounds to believe that their presence or behaviour has resulted, or is likely to result, in a member of the public from being harassed, intimidated, alarmed or distressed. Once asked to disperse it is a criminal offence for that person to return to the dispersal area for a 24 hour period. A dispersal order can be put in place for a designated area (as small or large as required) for up to six months.

Injunction
An injunction is a Court Order that requires the person(s) named either to do, or refrain from doing, certain specified acts. Failure to comply with an injunction can result in a fine and sometimes imprisonment. Such orders can prevent someone harassing or assaulting you or coming within a certain distance of your home or order someone to leave your home.

Interim ASBO (Anti-Social Behaviour Order)
These are Anti-Social Behaviour Orders that can be made before the full order. They are fixed for a set period until the ASBO/CRASBO is made, which then takes precedence.

NOSP – Notice of Seeking Possession
If a tenant of a local authority is found to be committing anti-social behaviour, then a notice can be issued which declares the landlord’s intention to begin legal proceedings to reclaim the tenancy.

YISP – Youth Inclusion Support Panel
Youth Inclusion and Support Panels (YISPs) aim to prevent anti-social behaviour and offending by eight to 13-year-olds who are considered to be at high risk of offending. Panels are made up of a number of representatives of different agencies (police, schools, health and social services). The main emphasis of a panel's work is to ensure that children and their families, can access mainstream public services at the earliest possible opportunity.

YOT – Youth Offending Team
There is a YOT in every local authority in England and Wales, and are made up of representatives from the police, Probation Service, social services, health, education, drugs and alcohol misuse and housing officers. The YOT identifies the needs of each young offender by assessing the specific problems that make the young person offend as well as measuring the risk they pose to others. This enables the YOT to identify suitable programmes to address the needs of the young person with the intention of preventing further offending.