Updated: Updated anti-social behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 statutory guidance for frontline professionals guidance.
Everyone has the right to feel safe in their own homes and neighbourhoods. Yet thousands of people around the country are still having their everyday lives blighted by anti-social behaviour. The Act seeks to put victims first, giving power to local people and enabling professionals to find the best solutions for their local area. The Act will streamline and simplify 19 existing powers, replacing them with six new ones which will enable the police, local authorities and others to respond quickly and effectively to anti-social behaviour. The new powers will be faster and more flexible seeking to stop anti-social behaviour and tackle underlying issues. Measures such as the Community Remedy and Community Trigger will see victims and communities empowered to have a say in the outcome of their reports and hold agencies to account.
The anti-social behaviour measures in this Act are contained in Parts 1-6.
Part 1 – Injunctions
This is a purely civil injunction, available in the county court for adults and the youth court for 10 to 17 year olds. It will allow a wide range of agencies, including the police, local councils and social landlords to deal quickly with anti-social individuals, nipping behaviour in the bud before it escalates.
Part 2 – Criminal Behaviour Orders
This will be available following a conviction for any criminal offence and can address the underlying causes of the behaviour through new, positive requirements. Breach will be a criminal offence with a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison for adults. It will demonstrate to the offender and the community the seriousness of the breach.
Part 3 – Dispersal Powers
This will enable officers to require a person who has committed, or is likely to commit, ASB to leave a specified area and not return for up to 48 hours.
Part 4 – Community Protection Notices
This part is split into three Chapters covering Community Protection Notices, Public Spaces Protection Orders and Closure orders. These new powers will be faster, more effective and available to more agencies to use to tackle a whole range of place-specific anti-social and criminal behaviour.
Part 5 – Recovery of Possession of dwelling-houses: Anti-Social Behaviour grounds
Anti-social behaviour can have a negative impact on neighbourhoods and communities. Social landlords have a key role in tackling anti-social behaviour. Provisions in the Bill introduce a new ground for possession to speed up the process in the most serious cases of anti-social behaviour bringing faster relief to victims and communities.
Part 6 – Local involvement and accountability
The new Community Remedy will give victims of low-level crime and anti-social behaviour a say in the punishment of the offender out of court, whilst the Community Trigger will give victims of persistent anti-social behaviour the right to demand action where they feel that their problems have not been dealt with.
Return to the main page of the Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Police Act