This chapter identifies key characteristics of the evolving governance of youth disorder in the UK, including a focus on youth activities in public space, new legal mechanisms for regulating conduct in residential areas, and reformed models of policing. The chapter provides a comparative evaluation of two local initiatives specifically aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour among groups of young people: a Dispersal Order implemented in Manchester and a social landlord-funded additional policing initiative in Glasgow. The chapter examines the operation of these initiatives, evaluates their impacts on anti-social behaviour and community relations, and explores the perceptions of public agency officers, adult residents, and young people themselves on the impacts of the initiatives. The chapter concludes by linking the findings to wider debates about tackling anti-social behaviour within the new governance of youth disorder in the UK.

Since 1998 the UK government has made tackling anti-social behaviour a key political priority. The 1998 Crime and Disorder Act and the 2003 Anti-Social Behaviour Act introduced new mechanisms including Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs), Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs), Parenting Orders, and Dispersal Orders. The Anti-Social Behaviour Unit was established in the Home Office in 2003 to coordinate the national TOGETHER campaign and in 2005 the Respect Task Force was set up to develop the policy programme addressing anti-social behaviour.

Generational conflicts have a longstanding history and young people “continue to evoke adult condemnation” (Muncie, 2003, p 202). Current political discourse around anti-social behaviour has focused on the problematic conduct of young people in public space. ASBOs may now be applied to children aged over 10, sometimes accompanied by publicity strategies to ‘name and shame’ individuals (Home Office, 2005f); dispersal and curfew orders have been deployed against teenagers and the government is currently considering the introduction of ‘baby ASBOs’ that could apply to under-10s. Simultaneously, parental responsibilities for the actions of children have been strengthened through the introduction of Parenting Orders and new proposals to link social housing tenancies to adequate parental supervision (Hennessey, 2005).

Policy background to the new governance of youth disorder

UK anti-social behaviour policy discourse has been characterised by a conflating of problematic behaviour in local communities with the activities of young people.