Section 30 dispersal powers: emerging findings from Merseyside

Evans, Rachel; Jamieson, Janet; O'Brien, Dave; Tombs, Steve and Yates, Joe (2010). Section 30 dispersal powers: emerging findings from Merseyside. Early Career Academics Network Bulletin(2) pp. 4–8.

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Abstract

Arguably regulating incivility and nuisance has borne the burden of three successive New Labour governments’ efforts to appease public concern and secure electoral gain (Jamieson and Yates, 2009). In particular, these efforts have witnessed the extension and intensification of interventions to exert control over young people’s ‘troublesome’ behaviour (Goldson, 2008). One of the more controversial measures in the government’s anti-social behaviour arsenal is the dispersal powers provided under Section 30 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 (Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI), 2003). This paper reflects on the emerging findings of a research study undertaken in Merseyside to highlight some concerns with regard to the imposition, implementation and impact of these dispersal powers.