Time to review how we approach ASB?

Asbo generation

Antisocial behaviour legislation in Scotland is almost 20 years old – and it is time to revisit it

By Gemma Fraser Head of content

In her ministerial foreword in 2004, Cathy Jamieson, Holyrood’s justice minister at the time, stated: “We want to encourage local communities and local agencies to put a stop to antisocial behaviour.

“We recognise that there is a lack of support for ordinary people affected by antisocial behavior – this undermines their confidence which means that they will not report antisocial behaviour when it happens or take a stand against it.”

Fast forward almost 20 years.

“I’m just very aware that one person’s antisocial behavior is someone else’s distress behavior or confused behavior, or the impact of mental health crisis,” says Lorraine Gillies, chief executive of the Scottish Community Safety Network (SCSN), and co-chair of a new group tasked with revisiting the issue of addressing and preventing antisocial behavior in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has launched a “new drive” to tackle antisocial behavior and look at what long-term changes can be made to reduce such behaviour and support victims almost two decades after 2004’s Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act was introduced.

“Our members have been saying for quite a while we really think that we need to have a new discussion around antisocial behavior,” says Gillies, when asked about the reason behind the fresh focus.

“The legislation is quite old. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to someone who said, I think we had X number of Asbos and I was thinking ‘is that good or bad?’

“In your local authority area there have been many Asbos – well what does that say? That means your preventative measures haven’t really worked out and you’re having to resort to these to impose something on people who we think we now know a lot more about than we did when the legislation came out.

“Another critical factor is that in Scotland, we know about trauma, and we understand the public health approach and we have very successfully done that work with the Violence Reduction Unit and all of that.

“It’s fair to say we have been lobbying Scottish Government officers for quite some time to say we think we need to have a fresh conversation, because I’m not clear what antisocial behavior is, and my mum’s not clear and Tesco aren’t clear because they have a sign on their car park that says ‘people behaving antisocially will be prosecuted’ and I’m thinking, really?

“So, we wanted to ask what is antisocial behavior, are the methods we use right now fit for this Scotland and is there a different approach we might want to take in Scotland?”

“Why is that happening? Why are children behaving violently in schools? Why are people behaving antisocially? Why are dogs biting people? What’s going on?”

Lorraine Gillies, Scottish Community Safety Network

A joint report by the Scottish Government and the SCSN was produced, and the working group was born, co-chaired by Gillies and Fiona Dyer, director of the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice.

“Last year, ourselves and the Scottish Government spoke to a wide-ranging reach of organisations and individuals, people who had behaved antisocially, people who had experienced antisocial behavior, youth work organisations, older people organisations, just to ask those questions,” explains Gillies.

“The report made two simple recommendations: that we accept that this is a long-term thing and that we open up this dialogue, we create a working group to carry on having those discussions. And that’s where it is now.”

Gillies highlights the fact that in the majority of cases, tackling antisocial behavior lands with the police, even where no crime is being committed.

With the current dire situation Police Scotland is faced with in terms of resources, it is unsustainable to always rely on the so-called service of first and last resort, she argues.

“We work very closely with our colleagues in Police Scotland and we talk to them about this and this is not a matter for Police Scotland – it’s a partnership matter,” Gillies tells 1919.

“Police Scotland should not be responding to every antisocial behavior call. They don’t have the resources, it’s very possible there’s no crime being committed, people who are behaving antisocially may well be requiring a different kind of response.”

The announcement of the new focus on antisocial behavior came two days after Bonfire Night – which, as with previous years, saw widespread antisocial behavior.

Fireworks and petrol bombs were lobbed into communities and directly at police officers in various estates in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee, with the behaviour branded “disgraceful” by First Minister Humza Yousaf.

In launching the working group, community safety minister Siobhian Brown referenced the violent disorder.

“We want everyone to be, and feel, safe in their community and we are committed to tackling all forms of antisocial behavior,” she said.

“Reported antisocial behaviour has broadly been in decline over the last decade, but the recent disorder on Bonfire Night, in particular, has shown that where issues arise, these can have a very serious impact for many people.

“It is nearly 20 years since the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 was introduced and it is right that we examine whether this remains fit for purpose and that we assess our wider approach.”

Gillies says it is essential to get to the root causes of this kind of violence.

“I’ve been talking quite a lot lately asking why,” she explains.

“My organisation is involved in a huge length and breadth of stuff – fireworks, dangerous dogs, violence in schools and for us the key question is always why?

“Why is that happening? Why are children behaving violently in schools? Why are people behaving antisocially? Why are dogs biting people? What’s going on?

“And the natural progression of that is how do we use that understanding to prevent?

“It’s hugely complex, but it is simple as well in that if we stop bashing people over the head with punitive stuff and start to really take some time to have a deep dive into this and look at what that definition is, and try to understand how can a partnership preventative approach maybe work differently.”

“We want everyone to be, and feel, safe in their community and we are committed to tackling all forms of antisocial behavior”

Community safety minister Siobhian Brown

She believes a lot has changed in 20 years; not least the understanding of how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can have a long-lasting impact on individuals.

“We talk in my organisation a lot about compassion and caring and it’s not soft, it’s actually an understanding of the fact that evidence tells us that people who are behaving in ways that could be perceived as unwanted, antisocial, even committing crimes, are more likely to be people who have reasons for that.

“We didn’t know about that then. We genuinely didn’t.

“I wasn’t talking about trauma then, and I wasn’t talking about ACEs, and I wasn’t talking about poverty.

“These were things that we didn’t have an understanding of, and we were working with what we thought we knew at the time and very much using the legislation and the tools and the mechanisms we could use but we weren’t really breaking any cycle.

“And in the long run, that’s not making you or I or my mum any safer.

“If we come back to what this is about, it’s about preventing antisocial behavior and it’s about minimising the impact that antisocial behavior has on people because it’s terrible.

“I’ve got access to horrible stories, people genuinely living reduced lives because of real antisocial behavior being carried out on them, against them, in their communities, using things like fireworks, using graffiti.

“This is not about saying that we need to have a soft touch – although it is – it’s about really understanding that victims of antisocial behavior are having a hellish time, and we really need to get to grips with it and it’s not good enough that this is happening to individuals and communities, and we really need to think about how we do it differently.”

The working group is aiming to present its conclusions to government ministers by the end of next year.

But with such complex issues at the centre of antisocial behaviour, combined with the devastating impact it can have on individuals, neighbours, and whole communities, it is not going to be an easy job.

What does Gillies expect from the findings?

“What I’m hoping for is that we have less antisocial behavior and the impact of antisocial behavior is minimised and felt less for victims,” she says.

“In my gut, with my SCSN hat on, I’m really hoping that we are able to have an open and honest dialogue about why people behave the way they do, and maybe try to understand that a little bit better.

“I am very clear that there are very distressed people that are kicking off, that are living in really extreme difficult times, and their behavior is unwanted, but it’s about trying to understand that and think about it.”