Reports

PSPOs • Reports

CPNs: The crime of crying in your own home

For two years, the Manifesto Club has been campaigning against ‘blank-cheque’ Public Spaces Protection Order powers, which allow a local authority to prohibit any activity it believes to have a detrimental effect on the quality of life. There has been some public opposition to particular PSPOs, which have led to draft orders being modified or withdrawn. In the process of this campaign, we have become aware that other powers in the same act – Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 – are being used to a similar effect, but have gone beneath the radar of public discussion and debate. These powers include Community Protection Notices, an order which…

Monitoring kids • Reports

Briefing Document – Monitoring Playgrounds

A briefing document by the Manifesto Club shows that schools’ monitoring of ‘racist incidents’ has continued and expanded, with a new trend of recording kids’ ‘prejudice’ based on gender, sexuality, ‘home circumstances’ and special needs. The briefing document argues that these recording systems intervene in everyday playground interaction, as well as undermining teachers’ authority and ability to deal with incidents in a proportionate manner. DOWNLOAD THE BRIEFING DOCUMENT Media coverage: ‘Fat bucket’ isn’t the worst thing you can call a child. ‘Bigot’ is, Sarah Oliver, Daily Mail, 4 January Is your five-year-old a bigot and a racist?, 4 January, Guardian School pupils…

On-the-spot fines • Reports

The Corruption of Punishment

A new Manifesto Club report shows how local authorities are using litter fines as a money-making operation. People are being fined for increasingly trivial incidents – from dropping a match stick, to a piece of cotton falling off a glove. More worryingly, often these fines are given out by private companies who are working on a commission basis. The report argues that such profiteering punishment works against the interests of justice and public service. We recommend that fines be used only in proportion to the offence, and when necessary for the public interest. Download the report: The Corruption of Punishment Responses to…