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‘Governance through publicity: anti-'social behaviour orders, young people and the problematization of the right to anonymity’

Cobb, N.

‘Governance through publicity: anti-'social behaviour orders, young people and the problematization of the right to anonymity’ Thumbnail


Authors

N. Cobb



Abstract

Since the early twentieth century, young people under eighteen involved in legal proceedings have been granted a degree of protection from the glare of media publicity. One controversial consequence of recent reforms of the anti-social behaviour order (ASBO), however, is the incremental reduction in the anonymity rights available to those subject to the mechanism, together with calls by the Home Office for details of such individuals to be publicized as a matter of course. Numerous commentators have criticized the government accordingly for reinstating the draconian practice of ‘naming and shaming’. This paper contends that these developments can be usefully analysed through the lens of Foucault's work on state governance. It explores, in particular, how challenges to the right reflect both the fall of anonymity and the rise of publicity in the governance of what I term ‘ASBO subjects’, together with the communities in which they live, under ‘advanced liberal’ rule.

Citation

Cobb, N. (2007). ‘Governance through publicity: anti-'social behaviour orders, young people and the problematization of the right to anonymity’. Journal of Law and Society, 34(3), 342-373. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2007.00396.x

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Sep 1, 2007
Deposit Date Sep 22, 2008
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Journal of Law and Society
Print ISSN 0263-323X
Electronic ISSN 1467-6478
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 34
Issue 3
Pages 342-373
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2007.00396.x
Keywords Governmentality, Anti-social behaviour, ASBO, Children and young people, Anonymity.

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The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com





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