Book Review: P. Squires (ed.), ASBO Nation: The Criminalisation of Nuisance, Policy Press, Bristol, 2008, £24.99 Pb, ISBN 978—1—84742—027—5
| DOI | 10.1177/14732254100100010704 |
| Author | Ross Deuchar |
| Date | 01 April 2010 |
| Published date | 01 April 2010 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Book Reviews 101
dynamics relating to who control applies to and what impact the labelling process has on
individuals with different social resources.
Overall, the title of this book is a little misleading and serves to highlight the limited
explicit focus on the ‘social’ within Shiner’s analysis. Nonetheless the book is a valuable
contribution to the genre serving to highlight the importance of understanding both the
reasons for drug use and the social context within which they occur. It also provides a
pertinent overview of a range of social theories of drug use and their links to contempo-
rary and historical drug use. Moreover it highlights the continuing resonance of exclu-
sionary social policy and practice on the drug use ‘problem’. Given that Shiner’s analysis
is undertaken with a high level of sophistication yet explained in an accessible way, the
book will prove useful to students, researchers and practitioners alike.
References
Goulden C, Sondhi A (2001) At the Margins: Drug Use by Vulnerable Young People in the 1998/99 Youth
Lifestyles Survey. Home Office Research Study 228. London: Home Office.
Graham J, Bowling B (1995) Young People and Crime. Home Office Research Study No 145. London:
HMSO.
Laub JH, Nagin DS, and Sampson RJ (1998) Trajectories of change in criminal offending: Good marriages
and the desistance process. American Sociological Review 63: 225–238.
Young J (1971) The Drugtakers: The Social Meaning of Drug Use. London: MacGibbon and Kee.
P. Squires (ed.), ASBO Nation: The Criminalisation of Nuisance,
Policy Press, Bristol, 2008, £24.99 Pb, ISBN 978–1–84742–027–5.
Reviewed by: Dr Ross Deuchar, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.
This book has ambitious aims, as described by the editor on the opening page: to capture,
in a single volume, a wide range of positions that one might take up in respect of the ‘anti-
social behaviour question’ in the UK; and to embrace a broad debate about the contempo-
rary significance of anti-social behaviour and what could, or should, be done about it. As
such, the book has been put together with criminologists in mind, whether they may be
working as part of the research, policy or practice communities. It is clear that the editor
has high aspirations for the book’s impact, given his assertion on the back cover that it
should become the ‘standard text in the field’. In the introductory chapter, Peter Squires
acknowledges the wide spectrum of opinion that exists in relation to anti-social behaviour,
and makes it clear that the contributions within the book represent many shades of opinion
about the issue.
The book is subsequently divided into three main sections. Part One provides a collec-
tion of articles that address the ‘priorities and approaches’ involved in managing anti-
social behaviour. Highlights here include a chapter by Adam Edwards and Gordon Hughes,
whose research with Community Safety practitioners and managers in Wales reveals
overwhelming support for the sentiments arising from Wilson and Kelling’s (1982)
‘broken windows’ thesis, where the participants’ practice is clearly influenced by ‘resilient
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