Crime, anti-social behaviour and education: A critical review

In this chapter we consider the relevance of a discourse of crime and anti-social behaviour for an educational setting. Our focus is on schools although much of what we discuss is also starting to permeate further and higher education sectors as well. We are interested in the interplay between discipline and criminalisation, and the place of increased securitisation and policing within schools. The language of ‘risk’ is often used to justify increases in controls (controls on at-risk children thought likely to behave anti-socially and criminally, and on adults for fear of what they might do to children). We question the use and accuracy of this risk paradigm and its leading to the increased criminalisation of education policy