Streets Kitchen Statement: The Vagrancy Act Repeal is a PR Smokescreen for Rebranded Cruelty. www.streetskitchen.org/2026/06/the-...

With the Vagrancy Act finally being repealed, I’m resharing a thought piece I wrote for the Big Issue last year.

It’s ASB Awareness Week! The ASB Research Team at Sheffield Hallam University – Vicky Heap, Alex Black, and I – have been invited by Merseyside PCC Emily Spurrell to present our research on Public Spaces Protection Orders.

In the past 24 hours, I’ve contributed to BBC Politics South, BBC Radio Berkshire, and BBC News, discussing PSPOs (and swans 🦢) and their wider implications.

Axl at the 2024 General Election. Missing him today – he always came with me to the polls. #dogsatpollingstations

It’s my first time attending the @slsauk.bsky.social conference in person, and also my first visit to (a very windy) Brighton 🏖️

First viva anniversary 🎉 Feel really lucky to have had an enjoyable experience, although I do look like a deer in headlights in these pictures!

New Open Access article published in Punishment & Society! 📢 Public Spaces Protection Orders and the Policing of Sub-Criminal Behaviour 👮 doi.org/10.1177/1462...

Travelling back from Birmingham after attending Green & Burton ASB Associates’ #ASB11 conference. Privileged to launch the Good Practice for Implementing a PSPO guide. Thanks to my Fellowship budget, I printed 150 copies, and every delegate took one home. Talk about research impact!

All printed and ready to be launched at #ASB11 next month! @janinegreenasb.bsky.social

Making the long journey from Sheffield to Leeds this week, as I'm excited to be attending the Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference! I'll be presenting in the Criminal Law and Criminal Justice stream tomorrow, 3:00–4:40 pm. If you're around and fancy meeting up, drop me a message 😅

Hotspot patrols (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿) to reduce anti-social behaviour (minor public incivilities) didn’t lead to any change in residents’ perception of ASB frequency. The evaluation report includes lots of useful lessons for similar programmes in future:

Although I'm on Annual Leave, I was pleased to see this in my email inbox yesterday!

Always on PSPO watch 👀 this time outside Elland Road after a stadium tour for my partner’s 30th birthday 🎁

Thrilled to speak for the first time “up the road” at the University of Sheffield, and my first time using a microphone too 🎤 It was a pleasure to present my paper this morning at the Emerging Urban Inequalities Conference hosted by @sheffieldurbanism.bsky.social!

"Repealing the Vagrancy Act 1824 is a positive step forward, but it risks being largely symbolic as rough sleepers face a growing use of other powers." Dr Ben Archer @benjaminarcher96.bsky.social writes for @bigissue.com ⬇ www.bigissue.com/opinion/vagr...

The Vagrancy Act criminalising rough sleeping in England and Wales is set to be axed but homeless people could still face criminalisation.

Many thanks to @bigissue.com for inviting me to write this opinion piece on the repeal of the Vagrancy Act 1824! www.bigissue.com/opinion/vagr...

I spent part of my annual leave last week in London attending the Cowboy Carter tour 🤠 🐝

‼️ THAT’S NOT ALL They also want to increase existing fines for Community Protection Notices (CPNs) and Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) from £100 to £500 📈UK homelessness figures have risen dramatically since 2014 – the year these laws were created!

‼️ The Government wants to introduce even MORE powers that will punish those living in poverty – at a time of record homelessness and during a cost-of-living crisis Here’s why EVERYONE should be concerned 🧵👇 (1/8)

Our #PPPconf2025 Session 1a will feature these papers – book now to be involved in these discussions 🎫 💬 ➡️ ppp-online.org/annual-confe...

"Sheffield Council recently introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order that will have a major effect on the lives of homeless people in the city, including bans on begging and loitering." Really appreciate the Manifesto Club asking me to write something on this. manifestoclub.info/sheffield-co...

Spending a sunny morning indoors was worth it for such an insightful event! Thanks to Public Policy Exchange for having me. Now off to get some WFG time in the sun 🌞

Last week, Sheffield's first Public Space Protection Order came into force. But did @sheffcitycouncil.bsky.social properly consider whether it will disproportionately impact the city's most vulnerable people? @sammgreg.bsky.social investigates, with insight from @benjaminarcher96.bsky.social ⬇️

Excited to be presenting a paper in what looks to be a brilliant session on ‘Trauma and Homelessness’

We’re delighted to launch our #PPPconf2025 programme 🚀 The programme theme is Political Transitions: Continuity and Change and we look forward to hearing from a range of fantastic speakers. Book your place now! ➡️ ppp-online.org/annual-confe...

🚨 Reuse Them or Lose Them: C20's Risk List campaign 2025 is here! From a Millennium pop music museum in Sheffield to a Bauhaus-inspired 1930s department store in Bradford, a 1970s brutalist football stand in Newcastle, to a 1980s ‘High-Tech Nissen hut in London. c20society.org.uk/buildings-at...

If anyone in Sheffield comes across a PSPO sign, let me know - I walked up The Moor yesterday and didn't spot any! www.sheffield.gov.uk/pollution-nu...

Suited and booted last month for the Law Ball 🪩 #35mm

Sheffield's Public Spaces Protection Order – with prohibitions on alcohol consumption, begging, loitering, drug use, and urination/defecation – is confirmed to become active on Monday, April 7th: www.sheffield.gov.uk/pollution-nu... Unfortunately, this isn't an April Fool's joke 😕

Speaking at Public Policy Exchange’s ‘Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour’ event on April 29th – discussing PSPOs and the impact of the Crime and Policing Bill. Looking forward to the conversation! www.publicpolicyexchange.co.uk/event.php?ev...

A new article on PSPOs which - through the lens of man's best friend - may increase awareness of their inconsistent use

Some thoughts on the "strengthening" of ASB powers in the Crime and Policing Bill:

New information about The Crime and Policing Bill and the introduction of Respect Orders (AKA ASBOs: The Sequel) www.gov.uk/government/n...

A few weeks into my Early Career Research and Innovation Fellowship, and it's been great to start drafting outputs from my PhD! I'm keen to share my research with academic, practitioner, and public audiences—so if you know of opportunities for talks, panels, or presentations, I'd love to hear 😄

First viva anniversary 🎉 Feel really lucky to have had an enjoyable experience, although I do look like a deer in headlights in these pictures!

It’s a shame to see Sheffield City Council take such a punitive stance by criminalising vulnerability. PSPOs are blunt tools to be used (if at all) in a targeted manner – the broad remit of this order and inclusion of dispersal powers is concerning. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Graduation on 35mm 📷🎓

We all want safe, thriving communities, but these orders have existed for decades & they still don’t work. We must listen to local authorities & victims by fixing problems with existing tools & properly funding public services & youth programmes to tackle anti-social behaviour's root causes (1/2)

Almost all these powers to prevent anti-social behaviour already exist in the various civil preventative powers on the statute book (esp CPNs, CBOs & PSPOs). 'Stacking' new powers over the top of old ones is confusing and dangerous. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

First post on BlueSky 👋 What better way to start than with my thoughts about the anticipated announcement of Respect Orders to address anti-social behaviour. I’m disappointed to see the return of a stigmatic rhetoric to describe young people. t.co/ZRHEUJ41iu