Summary on disorderly behaviour: past and present.

As far away as 350 BCE, Aristotle was finding problems with badly behaving young people that are also relevant in today’s society, for example bad manners and a lack of respect for authority. During the late 18th century offences such as theft and burglary started to be recorded more often, this was thought to be due to a growing inner city population alongside a concentration of the poverty stricken in certain areas. It is around this time that the word hooligan began to be used, which some believe came from the Irish word houlie meaning a wild party, whilst others believe it originates from a certain family from Southwark that often acted in a rowdy and drunken way. Regardless of which version is true the term which is used to characterise bad public behaviour is often used today. Today’s view on this problem focuses on increasing drug and alcohol problems as well as a growing lack of family life alongside a loss of respect for other people and property and decreasing morals. This view is strengthened by the media and government who often refer to a past that was safer and more orderly in order to push for harsher laws and causing a moral panic deeming that certain groups and individuals are a threat to society and action must be taken to protect us from them.
All this has lead to an increase in ASBOs which were introduced in the 1998 crime and disorder act in order to deal with criminal behaviour which was likely to go through a lengthy court process and end in a minor conviction. Certain groups including the police and local authorities are able to petition the court for an ASBO in order to stop certain individuals from