Introduction

Criminal justice issues in relation to ‘race’ and ethnicity have generated substantial research and policy interest. The experiences of minority ethnic groups as offenders/suspects have been examined and direct, indirect and institutional forms of racism have been explored, particularly in relation to police stop-and-search patterns, court processes (including sentencing) and custody. At the same time, substantial research has been generated in relation to minority ethnic groups and victimisation, in particular their experiences of racist crime. In contrast, the specific issue of anti-social behaviour (ASB) and minority ethnic populations has not attracted much research attention, perhaps due to the traditional focus on criminal, rather than social, justice within accounts of ‘race’/ethnicity and crime/victimisation.

Anti-social behaviour, while overlapping with criminal behaviour, widens the lens of criminological research to focus on social harms rather than only on those events defined as criminal by the state. A focus on anti-social behaviour with respect to minority ethnic groups therefore raises a broader question about whether responses to ASB can potentially help to achieve social justice for minority ethnic communities, particularly as these communities experience racist victimisation as a social process rather than a criminal event. Thus, given the government's desire to encourage citizens to ‘take a stand’ and make use of the ASB powers to tackle unacceptable behaviour in their neighbourhoods and communities, there is a general question about the response of minority ethnic citizens: to what extent are minority ethnic citizens and communities adding their voices to the demands for action to be taken against anti-social elements? More specific questions concern the extent to which the post-1998 ASB policies and powers create opportunities for minority populations by providing further means of addressing forms of racial harassment and abuse, thereby offering significant additional protection to minority ethnic individuals and communities.

However, given that agencies of the criminal justice system have been accused of direct, indirect and institutional forms of racism involving the criminalisation of particular minority ethnic groups, there is the potential for responses to anti-social behaviour to result in the further criminalisation of these groups. This chapter therefore also examines the question whether the post-1998 ASB policies and powers pose a threat to minority populations in enabling people whose behaviours are perceived as ‘different’ to be labelled anti-social and subjected to further discriminatory interventions: are ASB powers being used disproportionately to regulate and penalise members of minority ethnic groups?