A civil injunction, one of six new anti-social behaviour (ASB) powers introduced by the Coalition Government under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, came into force on Monday, March 23. According to the Coalition it was the final stage in the Government’s overhaul of the old anti-social behaviour powers, as brought in by the previous Labour Government. The Coalition claimed that many had proven to be ineffective.
This end of the ASBO, and the similar regime in its place, were featured on page 28 in the December 2014 print issue of Professional Security magazine.
That injunction can be issued by courts to stop a person who is committing anti-social behaviour, such as public drunkenness or noisy and abusive behaviour towards neighbours. Those six new powers replace 19 pre-existing ones, including Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs). For guidance on the new powers for the public sector, and how ‘front line professionals’ can use them, visit gov.uk. That guidance details how social landlords can use the ASB powers; and how the ‘community protection notice’ (CPN) can deal with noise nuisance and litter on private land.
The 2014 Act brought in two new things: the Community Trigger, giving victims of crime the ability to demand action, starting with a review of their case, where the locally defined threshold is met; and the Community Remedy, that gives victims a say in the out-of-court punishment of perpetrators for (so-called) low-level crime and anti-social behaviour.
Pictured: an on street sign in Southwark, south London.
