ASBOs and ABCs

What Enforcement Initiatives Do We Use?

Acceptable Behaviour Contract (ABC):

This is a non-legally binding written contract between one or more local agencies and someone who has behaved anti-socially. The contract will state certain things that person should or should not do. ABCs are often used with children and young people, but can equally be used for adults and often ABCs will be used with parents and their children.

Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO);

These are civil orders that protect the public from behaviour that causes, or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress and are designed to protect the public from further anti-social behaviour. Breach of an ASBO is a criminal offence and they can be made on anyone aged 10 or over who has displayed anti-social behaviour in the previous six months. ASBOs should be seen as a measure to be used only when all other options have been tried and failed.

Injunctions:

An injunction is a civil order made by the County Court to compel an adult to do or not to do certain things. They can be applied for by social landlords against tenants, owner-occupiers and non-tenants. Injunctions are used when someone is committing anti-social behaviour, including noise nuisance, verbal abuse, visitors causing nuisance to neighbours and threats of violence or actual violence.