Questionnaire: Could Your Child Get an ASBO?

There are many different bad habits and courses of conduct that could potentially lead to a court passing an Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO). It is not just children and young people who are given ASBOs; in fact they are given to people of all ages and from all backgrounds.

ASBOs are distinct from Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) in that ASBOs were created by statute and are legally binding on people who have them; whereas an Acceptable Behaviour Contract is voluntary. A child under the age of 10 years old in the UK cannot be given an ASBO. So if your child is aged 10 or over, how do you know whether their behaviour is such that he or she could be given an ASBO? Here are some questions to ask about your child’s conduct:

• Does your child harass, pass comments, shout at or swear at residents or passers by?
• Does your child verbally abuse people outside the confines of your home?
• Do local residents complain about your child making a lot of noise, especially late at night? (e.g. loud music, mini-motorbikes, engine revving etc.)
• Does your child graffiti public property? (with a tag or not.)
• Is your child an underage smoker or does your child drink alcohol in public, and/or get drunk in a public place?
• Does your child go out with a large group of other children and collectively use their number to threaten others, whether explicitly or implicitly?
• Does your child racially abuse anyone?
• Does your child vandalise property belonging to other people, including the council, local authority or other public property?
• Does your child sniff glue, or misuse other substances?
• Has your child ever been caught begging?
• Has your child ever been caught kerb-crawling?
• Has your child ever engaged in vehicle crime? This includes joy riding or TWOC (Taking a vehicle Without Consent), allowing oneself to be carried in a stolen car etc.
• Has your child ever thrown missiles at anyone?
• Is your child subject to an Acceptable Behaviour Contract (ABC)? Has he or she broken the contract? (This evidence can be used in the procedure for applying for an ASBO.)

If you have answered ‘Yes’ to one or more of these questions in relation to your child, then:

• Has any of this activity taken place in public in a way that was likely to harass, alarm or cause distress to someone outside your household?

If you have answered ‘Yes’ to one of the list of questions and ‘Yes’ to the last question this could potentially be enough evidence for an ASBO. Often, the nature of a child’s behaviour that leads to an ASBO is made up of a number of different elements that have been witnessed by one or more members of the public. Often, there will be one or more children causing the problem in a particular residential area but residents can be afraid of reporting these incidents to the police for fear of making the situation worse.

An ASBO is a civil order that is generally made in the magistrates’ court and lasts for a minimum of two years. It may exclude an individual from a specific area, such as a parade of shops, a local area, specific streets or other places. The courts take any breach of an ASBO very seriously, as it is seen as a flagrant disregard of the court’s authority. Breach of an ASBO is a criminal offence for which an individual can be subjected to an unlimited fine and/or imprisonment.

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