Putting victims first: More effective responses to anti-social behaviour
12.In May 2012, the Home Office published a White Paper, Putting victims first: more effective responses to anti-social behaviour (the White Paper included a summary of responses to the earlier consultation).(2) This set out how the Government would support local areas to:
Focus the response to anti-social behaviour on the needs of victims – helping agencies to identify and support people at high risk of harm, giving frontline professionals more freedom to do what they know works, and improving our understanding of the experiences of victims;
Empower communities to get involved in tackling anti-social behaviour – by, among other things, giving victims and communities the power to ensure action is taken to deal with persistent anti-social behaviour through a new community trigger, and making it easier for communities to demonstrate in court the harm they are suffering;
Ensure professionals are able to protect the public quickly – giving them faster, more effective formal powers, and speeding up the eviction process for the most anti-social tenants, in response to consultations by the Home Office and Department for Communities and Local Government; and
Focus on long-term solutions – by addressing the underlying issues that drive anti-social behaviour, such as binge drinking, drug use, mental health issues, troubled family backgrounds and irresponsible dog ownership.
13.The reforms proposed were designed to provide better protection for victims and communities, and ensure that professionals had effective powers that were quick, practical and easy to use, and acted as real deterrents to perpetrators – replacing 19 of the complex existing powers (see Annex B) with six simpler and more flexible new ones, and giving victims a say in how agencies tackle anti-social behaviour.
