The Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ) have warmly welcomed the newly published report from the Independent Working Group on Antisocial Behaviour.
This report sets out a series of five recommendations and 45 actions to drive whole system change to both prevent future antisocial behaviour and provide a situational response to address behaviour happening now. This includes a call for an oversight board to steer this change and a prevention framework to help tackle the root drivers of antisocial behaviour.
The Independent Working Group was announced in November 2023 by the Scottish Government’s Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown to “develop a holistic, long term, strategic approach” to addressing antisocial behaviour. This was to include consideration of a more preventative approach and how best to support victims of antisocial behaviour.
Fiona Dyer and Lorraine Gillies, co-chairs of the Independent Working Group:
“From listening to over 250 stakeholders across Scotland, we know that antisocial behaviour is preventable. We must address it when it happens, but we also need to invest upstream to prevent antisocial behaviour from happening in the first place. This report indicates some significant steps to achieving that.”
In preparing this report, the group engaged with over 250 stakeholders across Scotland, alongside 150 survey responses, to understand how antisocial behaviour has impacted people, families, communities, towns, cities and services.
A key finding from the report is that antisocial behaviour is preventable, but cannot be viewed in isolation. It is deeply connected with long-standing social and economic issues including poverty and inequality, alongside the lack of provision of vital services including youth work, community learning and development, and mental health support.
The group also commissioned an evidence paper on antisocial behaviour, published this month and conducted by Dr Aaron Brown and Dr Ruby Whitelaw.
Group membership
- Professor Fiona Dyer, Director, Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (Co-chair)
- Lorraine Gillies, Independent (Co-chair)
- Tom Halpin, QPM, Independent
- Lorrainne Meek, Antisocial Behaviour Officers’ Forum
- Professor Lesley McAra, CBE FRSE, Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh
- Kirsten Urquhart, CEO, Young Scot
- Kate Wallace, CEO, Victim Support Scotland