Helen Easton

Assessing The Use and Impact of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders

Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) have become the main sanction for dealing with anti-social behaviour in the UK. This book represents one of the first assessments of this sanction, which has become widely used but remains extremely controversial. The report is based on detailed interviews with ASBO recipients, practitioners and community representatives in areas affected by anti-social behaviour. Examining its use and impact from these various perspectives, the book assesses the effects of ASBOs on the behaviour and attitudes of recipients as well as examining the various issues which arise in relation to their implementation. The report should be read by academics and students who want to make sense of ASBOs, practitioners who are involved in implementing them as well as policy makers who are responsible for designing this sanction. It will also be of interest to all those who have an interest in addressing the issue of anti-social behaviour.

Models of Service Provision

Support and treatment agencies can play a critical role in the exiting process. In the course of our research, we examined various forms of service provision and assessed their respective contributions to exiting. These agencies, we found, have different philosophies, objectives and practice. Thus the central focus of this chapter is how women involved in different types of prostitution utilise support services, and how the different forms of service provision are able to contribute to the exiting process.

Getting the Balance Right: The Ethics of Researching Women Trafficked for Commercial Sexual Exploitation

This chapter discusses the ethical issues associated with researching women who have been trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. It refers to two studies conducted by the authors. The first was a study commissioned by the Scottish Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) as part of a wider Inquiry into Human Trafficking in Scotland. The second was a study of women exiting prostitution which included a small sample of trafficked women accessed through the Poppy Project in London. What became apparent during both of these studies was the way in which researching those who have been trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation can become a balancing act between gathering and presenting robust evidence about women’s individual experiences and ensuring the physical and emotional safety of the research subjects. Throughout both studies, the researchers needed to negotiate the methodological approach, work in partnership with stakeholders and manage issues around the limits of confidentiality and anonymity. A further balancing act was progressing fieldwork and analysis at a suitable pace for the commissioner while also being reflexive and taking care of the needs of women participants and the researcher’s personal responses to the subject matter. Although alive with ethical and moral issues, research that examines women’s experiences and presents these clearly without causing harm is fundamental to both the policy process and to the development of knowledge about human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation as well as how to conduct sensitive research with vulnerable victims.

The Dynamics of Exiting and Desistance

There has been a considerable amount written about women’s entry into prostitution but relatively little about how they exit. Over the past decade, however, there has been growing interest in the exiting process. This interest has been stimulated on one hand by a steady stream of sociological and criminological literature on desistance and on the other by the growing realisation that a large percentage of women involved in prostitution would like to exit if they could (Audet and Carrier 2006; Bradford 2005; Farley 2004; Hough and Rice 2008; Ng and Venticich 2006; O’Neill and Campbell 2011).

Barriers and Opportunities

The obstacles or barriers to exiting faced by women involved in prostitution are widely recognised. These typically involve drug dependency, homelessness, lack of skills training or low educational levls, together with poor employment histories. Other barriers frequently cited include financial issues and problems associated with physical and mental health. It is also widely reported that many women face a number of these barriers simultaneously, and having begun on an exiting pathway they often face a combination of obstacles. This is part of the reason why the route out of prostitution is rarely linear, since even when women have overcome one barrier they may be set back by others.

Exiting, Policy and Practice

It is remarkable how long it has taken for us to take exiting from prostitution seriously. However, we have moved tentatively over the past decades from seeing women involved in prostitution as offenders, then as victims, and more recently as a group of people with agency who are willing and able to take control of their lives and leave prostitution.

Examining the Process of Change

In this chapter we take up some of the themes and issues that have been raised on the literature on desistance and exiting and subject them to empirical examination. Based on a total sample of 114, which includes a smaller sample of 55 women who had exited at the time of interview, our aim is to shed some light on these contested issues. In doing so we focus first on the relation between structure and agency; second, the role of formal and informal supports; third, the relationship between past experiences and future developments; and lastly we examine the significance of lapses and reversals.