Hybrid Orders: A review of preventative behavioural orders in the UK

Hybrid Orders are civil orders that seek to restrict a person’s behaviour by imposing a series of conditions that are meant to prevent that person from carrying out a form of unwanted conduct. Some hybrid orders are granted by the courts, others by local authorities without any judicial oversight. Some orders are applied for by the persons seeking protection from them, others by the police, local authority or housing association. The imposition of a hybrid order often brings with it strict coercive conditions, including restricting a person’s ability to associate with other persons, be present in certain geographical areas, have access to technology or even control how they behave in their own home. Breach of those conditions may amount to a criminal offence or contempt of court and in either event, result in a custodial sentence.

Initially viewed as a novel means to target unique problems (for example, football hooliganism in the 1980s^[1] and anti-social behaviour in the early 1990s^[2]), the contexts in which Hybrid Orders are used have expanded significantly. Hybrid Orders now exist in the context of community nuisance (Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions, Dispersal Orders, Public Space Protection Orders and Community Protection Notices), gender-based violence (Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders, Stalking Protection Orders, Forced Marriage Protection Orders), serious and violent offending (Stalking Protection Orders, Criminal Behaviour Orders, Knife Crime Prevention Orders) and sexual misconduct (Sexual Risk Orders), amongst others. This momentum for introducing new hybrid orders shows no signs of slowing: However, despite the preponderance of these orders, there has so far been no comprehensive, comparative review that looks across the board at the entirety of the hybrid order regime and which identifies both problems and solutions for reform.
 
JUSTICE recognises that many hybrid orders have arisen as the result of legitimate policy aims. This is especially true of the hybrid orders that intend to protect specific victims. Therefore, the goal of the Working Party is not to challenge those legitimate aims per se, but to look at the way hybrid orders operate in practice. In particular, the Working Party will explore whether hybrid orders are issued and enforced in a fair and consistent manner that respects human rights and whether they are effective in achieving those legitimate purposes. The Working Party will also address concerns that they criminalise non-criminal conduct and that they disproportionately affect certain groups of society including persons of colour, children and those experiencing situational vulnerability by reason of being homeless or having learning difficulties.