The Criminal Justice Bill (CJB) will extend unchecked police and council powers in public spaces and in the home. This briefing concerns the CJB’s amendments to the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (ASBCPA). Over the past 10 years, the Manifesto…
The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (aka the ‘Busybodies’ Charter’) has led to absurdities such as pensioners being fined for riding bicycles or feeding the birds, and bans on loitering or standing in groups. Now the government wants to amp…
Moira Macfarlane is a director at ACA Law in north London, with an extensive experience of defending clients who have received Community Protection Notices. In this interview, she says how CPNs are being issued as a ‘tick-box exercise’, and gives advice on legal aid for CPN appeals. What is your experience defending clients with CPNs? I regularly deal with CPNs at both the police station and court. It tends to be that I see the same people repeatedly. For example, one of my clients was recently dealt with for breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO), he had been found with a…
Janine Green is a specialist in community safety and anti-social behaviour (ASB), and provides training and consultancy for organisations including councils, police and housing providers (https://www.janinegreenasb.co.uk/). She is interviewed here about the use of Community Protection Notices (CPNs) – on-the-spot legal orders that can impose significant restrictions on individuals’ liberties – and also about the government’s ASB Action Plan, which proposes to substantially increase penalties for violation of CPNs, and to allow them to be issued to children as young as 12. What is the problem with CPNs? While I have seen examples of CPNs being used to effectively and responsibly to…
1. What are CPNs? Community Protection Notices (CPNs) are powers contained in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, imposing legal restrictions or requirements upon individuals. Police and council officers can issue these notices without going through a court, if they…
Manifesto Club Thinkpieces put our campaigning in broader perspective, exploring the underlying dynamics behind the state regulation of public spaces and informal life. This Thinkpiece on Behaviour Control Orders explores this new form of state control of individual and public conduct. It…