Myths and Reality: Anti-social Behaviour in Scotland

ABSTRACT

There has been widespread debate in Britain about the problems caused by 'anti-social' neighbours. This paper considers the definitions of anti-social behaviour and possible causal factors before going on to investigate the basis for some of the most commonly held views about the issue. It concludes that it is more useful to consider the problem as comprising three distinct but related phenomena of neighbour disputes, neighbourhood problems and crime. Although the causal factors link to the wider debate about residualisation, solutions have focused on tightening legal sanctions rather than on wider societal problems. The limited research evidence does not support views that problems only occur in public sector estates, or that drugs, community care policies, lifestyle differences and lack of tolerance are major factors. In addition, landlords were not developing preventive measures or using existing legal sanctions effectively.