NCJ Number
213108
Date Published
2005
Length
208 pages
Annotation
This book critiques current laws and policies of the British Government that give high priority to controlling antisocial behavior (petty crime and nuisance behavior) and examines similar developments in other European countries and in North America.
Abstract
The book examines how the concept of antisocial behavior has come to dominate British law-and-order discourse, along with its consequences. The author argues that in actuality, behavior that is termed antisocial is a small problem for communities, given that the vast majority of the British population view it as a neighborhood nuisance that can generally be handled informally or through mild displays of formal social control. It is clear that much of the Labour Government's formal efforts to address antisocial behavior rest in the belief that people become fearful and anxious when they observe visible, objectionable behavior in public places. Such a view of the cause of pervasive fear in the British populace thus puts antisocial behavior in public places at the top of a politician's list of problems the public wants solved. In addition to tracing the roots of this rationale for giving priority to antisocial behavior, the author provides perspective on the issue through a historical survey of how disorderly behavior has been viewed from medieval to Victorian times. One chapter addresses the legal instruments the British Government has devised to control "bad" behavior and how they are applied, such that the poor and adolescents are marginalized and negatively labeled as the main targets of control. 260 references, chapter notes, and a subject index