Anti-Social Behaviour
Acceptable Behaviour Contracts addressing antisocial behaviour in the London Borough of Islington
This publication, by the Research Development Statistics (RDS) Directorate, contains findings from a scheme based in the London Borough of Islington, designed to reduce antisocial behaviour using Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) over 2 periods, January 1999 to October 2000 and May 2001 to December 2001. It also examines the subsequent use of ABCs in England and Wales.
Title: Acceptable Behaviour Contracts addressing antisocial behaviour in the London Borough of Islington
Author: Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate.
Series: Home Office Online Report 02/04
Number of Pages: 48
Date Published: January 2004
ABCs
Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) are written agreements between a young person, the local housing office or Registered Social Landlord (RSL) and the local police in which the person agrees not to carry out a series of identifiable behaviours which have been defined as antisocial. The contracts are primarily aimed at young people aged between 10 and 18.
The report research shows that ABCs have proved a popular way of addressing antisocial in Islington. ABCs can reduce the amount of antisocial behaviour committed by young people for the duration of their contract. The evaluation in Islington found that children on ABCs were less likely to engage in antisocial behaviour, less likely to be stopped or arrested by the police and were less likely to commit criminal acts.
Antisocial behaviour has increasingly become a matter of public concern, reflected in recent government legislation. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 introduced Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) to protect the public from behaviour that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress,
Impact of the ABC scheme in Islington
In Islington, for the first 6 months of the contract, fewer of the young people came to the attention of the police and housing officers for antisocial behaviour than in the previous 6 months.
There appeared to be fewer young people committing large numbers of antisocial acts whilst on contracts in Islington, although some of the young people continued to commit a range of antisocial acts while on the scheme.
Some young people in Islington who had committed criminal offences in the 6 months prior to the contract continued to do so but at a reduced rate. (There were 85 arrests prior to the contracts and 34 arrests during).
43% of the contracts in Islington were breached (40 out of 94).
Prior to the contract in Islington
In Islington, the young people had come to the attention of the police on average 1.7 times for antisocial behaviour in the 6 months before their contract started, they were also involved in a wide range of criminal behaviour e.g. burglary, vehicle and motorbike theft.
The young people in Islington were involved in a wide range of antisocial behaviour prior to being put on a contract including, threatening and intimidating residents, graffiti and criminal damage.
Each young person committed an average of 6 different types of antisocial behaviour before being placed on the scheme.
The average age of those on the contract in Islington was 16 but there was a wide range in the ages. 88% of contracts were issued for males.
In Islington, those on contract normally lived in council accommodation, which their family had normally lived in for more than 10 years.
It was common for young people on contracts in Islington to come from large families with 3 or more children. Several households had 2 children on an ABC simultaneously.
Process and implementation details in Islington
In total, 104 young people had been on the scheme in Islington between January 1999 - October 2000 and May 2001 – December 2001.
Young people were most commonly identified for the Islington scheme from complaints to estate managers (96%), police stops (44%) and from police intelligence (36%).
Practitioners in Islington tended to favour ABCs over ASBOs, and interviewing young people about their antisocial behaviour was considered by practitioners to be a constructive way of dealing with the problem.
Contracts were usually 6 months in length and contained 7 terms, on average.
ABCs in England and Wales
In April 2002 there were at least 173 contract schemes in England and Wales and 39 of the 42 police forces surveyed had implemented at least one ABC scheme. A total of 1,868 contracts had been issued, an average of 11 contracts per scheme. However, it is likely the number of schemes and contracts issued has increased since then.
A multi-agency approach was common usually involving the police, housing, Youth Offending Teams and social services. However, contracts were typically monitored by the police and housing.
The majority (79%) of respondents (police and housing officers) felt that the scheme was positive, and most ABC schemes were set up because of perceived successes elsewhere.
A wide variety of data sources were used to identify potential candidates including complaints, housing records, police intelligence and police statistics. The use of professional witnesses was not very common.
Types of antisocial behaviour targeted included harassment, verbal abuse and criminal damage. ABCs were also used to tackle crime e.g. prostitution and joyriding.
45% of respondents (76 of 169) who were currently running ABC schemes reported that one or more of their contracts had been breached. A total of 286 breaches were identified; 15% of all contracts issued. Most breaches involved criminal damage, verbal abuse and nuisance.
Benefits of the scheme included addressing and reducing antisocial behaviour effectively.
The main implementation problems were considered to be a lack of resources and time.
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