Overview
- Respect Orders, which came into force on Monday, October 26, allow police, local councils, housing providers and transport bodies to ask courts to place restrictions on adults who cause harassment, alarm or distress.
- Breaching a Respect Order is now a criminal offence that can lead to fines, community sentences or up to two years in prison, and orders will be uploaded to the Police National Computer so officers can check and arrest for breaches.
- Courts may attach positive requirements to orders, such as drug or alcohol treatment, anger management, curfews or volunteering, to try to tackle the root causes of repeat anti‑social behaviour.
- Local forces in Dorset, Wiltshire and Bournemouth have paired the new orders with high‑visibility patrols, dispersal powers, alcohol seizures and targeted operations, while policing leaders and PCCs stress the need for proportionate use and extra funding.
- Human‑rights watchdogs and free speech critics warn the law’s broad test for anti‑social behaviour risks sweeping in less serious conduct and disproportionately affecting vulnerable people, and the orders replace adult civil injunctions introduced under the Crime and Policing Act 2026.