Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour and Homelessness with Exclusion Orders in the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Wales

Abstract

Local governments throughout the world have been tackling anti-social behaviour for years. A popular measure is to impose an exclusion order on homeless people after they have disturbed the public order or violated a local regulation. The exclusion order is a ban imposed on an individual prohibiting him or her from being in a specific area within the local authority or from being within a particular distance from some object within the local authority. Local authorities maintain that an exclusion order is not a criminal charge.This has mixed success in the national courts. In the Netherlands, England and Wales the local authorities manage to convince the highest courts that an exclusion order is not a criminal charge. In Belgium they are not so successful: the Belgian Raad van State (Council of State) considers the exclusion order to be a criminal charge.This paper compares the exclusion order in the Netherlands, England and Belgium for the purpose of finding answers to a number of questions. Will the ECHR also conclude that an exclusion should not being regarded as criminal charge? What are the advantages and disadvantages of an exclusion order not being regarded as a criminal charge? What are the implications of the legal qualification of the exclusion order for respect for the rights of homeless people and the effective tackling of anti-social behaviour?

Keywords: anti-social behaviour, public order, law, homelessness, criminal charge, nuisance, exlusion order

JEL Classification: K42, K33, K14