Indirect Criminalisation: The True Limits of Criminal Punishment

This book presents the first detailed study of ’indirect criminalisation’ (the legal treatment of antisocial behaviour through civil preventative measures such as the ASBO) in England and Wales.

Since the late 20th century many Western jurisdictions introduced a range of civil preventive measures in order to prevent and deal with various types of criminality. Although the stated objective of these interventions is the prevention of crime, their implementation can result in the imposition of restrictions akin to criminal punishment leading to the indirect criminalisation of certain kinds of behaviour.

Through the adoption of an interdisciplinary approach which combines criminal law theory and empirical criminology, this book engages with the phenomenon of indirect criminalisation using the legal framework on anti-social behaviour in England and Wales as a case study.

It engages with central questions within legal theory:
- what are the normative challenges posed by indirect criminalisation and mechanisms for distinguishing criminal from non-criminal rules?
- how can such questions be tested and applied empirically?
- has the ASBO’s successor been operating as de facto criminal measure?

Stavros Demetriou is Lecturer in Law at the University of Sussex, UK.