Stakeholder Position: Alcohol Concern

Link between Alcohol and Violent Crime

Findings from the Government’s Interim Analytical Report in 2003 estimated that alcohol-related crime costs the UK £7.3 billion per annum in terms of policing, prevention services, processing offenders through the criminal justice system and human costs incurred by the victims of crime.

In 1999, there were an estimated 1.2 million incidents of alcohol-related violence approximately 23,000 per week. (Richardson and Budd, 2003)

One in five violent crimes takes place in or around pubs and clubs; 70% of these incidents take place on weekend evenings. (Cabinet Office Strategy Unit Alcohol Project, 2003)

In 2001 and 2002, 47% of all victims of violence described their assailant as being under the influence of alcohol at the time. (Flood-Page and Taylor, 2003)

Approximately one third of incidents of partner violence occurred when the perpetrator had been drinking. (Cabinet Office Strategy Unit Alcohol Project, 2003)

In 2003-2004 police statistics recorded a 12%  increase in violent crime with 44% of offences linked to alcohol. (Home Office press release 21July 2004)

Drink Banning Orders Clauses 1 - 11

1. Alcohol Concern welcomes the firmer stance being taken towards unacceptable behaviour whilst drunk, however, we believe that this represents only half the solution.

2. Although not all those who are drunk when committing an offence need to have treatment for problem drinking, this may well be the case for a significant proportion of those who commit more serious offences. (Of the 60,000 sentenced prisoners in the UK, just over 40,000 are hazardous alcohol users and almost half of these have severe alcohol problems).

3. It is therefore vital that as well as the introduction of Drink Banning Orders, any treatment needs of an individual should be identified as part of this process and that appropriate support packages would be given as part of this process.  For the 1 in 13 who are dependent on alcohol, there is little point in banning them from entering premises where they can purchase their drug of choice without offering them the support to be able to stop drinking.

4. Even for those who do not need treatment, a more punitive stance needs to sit side by side with one which encourages responsible behaviour. This is only possible through  raising  awareness  of  the negative impact of excessive alcohol consumption, informing people about safe drinking and encouraging people to question their own drinking patterns. Taking a punitive approach alone will have a limited impact in changing the behaviour of the 8 million people who drink at risky levels or the 5.9 million who are binge drinkers.

 

Alcohol Disorder Zones Clauses 12 - 17

5. Alcohol Concern welcome the concept of the new Zones as a step forwards in holding Licensees accountable for the impact their business has on local communities. Under the current licensing legislation, little progress has been made on licensees accepting they have any responsibility for events which occur outside their premises.  The reality is that large numbers of licensed premises contribute to large numbers of intoxicated people, all of whom are slightly more rowdy and jubilant and more likely to react aggressively than they would be if sober. Anti social behaviour in these circumstances is far more likely and frequently does occur.

6. These Zones will help to build this sort of accountability and will benefit local communities. The new Zones however should not be seen as a closure to the debate on the new licensing legislation.

7. The Home Affairs Select Committee concluded that “The Government’s response to alcohol-related disorder is currently centred around one main principle: the assumption that the problem can be defined in terms of, and traced to, irresponsible individuals and individual premises”. The proposed ADZ’s are an example of this thinking, being reactive, providing little in the way of new remedies and conceived of as a solution to only a few “problem” areas. A more effective way of ensuring all areas are would be to amend the current Licensing Act so that Local Authorities are able to enforce their local licensing policies as a matter of course rather than needing to wait for an objection to an individual application.

8. The new Zones, appear to provide little in the way of new remedies rather relying on implementation of current powers such as Public Place Orders, Dispersal Notices and Powers of Closure.

9. Although the threat of contribution to costs seems to be the incentive to tackle the problems voluntarily.  For these sorts of schemes to be worthwhile for local authorities and Police to pursue, the schemes need to be in place for long enough to act as a catalyst for long term change in the actions of licensed premises. Therefore in addition to practical benefits i.e the reduction in crime and disorder on implementing the regime, the Zones do also need to have a punitive aspect

10. Alcohol Disorder Zones should also link into the planning system and licensing systems as a whole. It would be ludicrous for an area to be designated an ADZ whilst giving permission for new bars and pubs to be opened or current ones opened for longer. As these are quasi-judicial functions it will be vital that this is recognised formally by the relevant statutory mechanisms in order for committees to be able to include this in their deliberations

11. Alcohol Disorder Zones should be seen as  part  of  a  continuum  of measures to tackle alcohol related crime and disorder. This must start with preventing problems from arising and  needs  to  include  increased  powers  for  Local Authorities to shape the development  of  the  night  time economy in their local areas. 

 

Persistent Sales of Alcohol to Children Clauses 20 - 21

12. Alcohol Concern welcome the increased focus on Industry Irresponsibility as under-age drinking is a very serious and worsening problem in the UK. The closure of premises who persistently sell to young people will help to send a message that this is a serious offence.

13. Whilst the proportion of children of school age who drank alcohol in the last week has remained around the 25% mark, drinkers under the age of 16 are now drinking twice as much as they did 10 years ago up to 10.5 units per week in 2002. They also tend to get drunk for the  first time at an earlier age than their European counterparts.. (Strategy Unit Interim Analytical Report)
 
14. The recent “Summer” and “Christmas” Enforcement Campaigns run by the Home Office uncovered examples of irresponsible trading. In the summer campaign, 45% of on licence and 31% of off licence premises visited were found to be selling to under-18s. In the December campaign, the figure for both types was 32%.

15. Despite Industry claims that the reasons for this are difficulties around identification of underage young people, it is important to note that as “test purchasing” operations, the authorities were bound to use young people who looked underage. It is also worth noting that should they have been asked for identification, they would not have been able to produce this.

16. Increased enforcement of legislation is vital if we are to impact on this important issue. Evidence has shown that active enforcement of legislation can and does reduce the prevalence of underage sales. For example, even moderate increases in enforcement can reduce sales to minors by as much as 35-40% (Tackling Alcohol Together: The evidence base for a UK Alcohol Policy). 

17. There is also the need for a more proactive approach with regular checks for retailers’ compliance – through a proactive test purchasing regime for example. A recent study in Concord, New Hampshire, for example showed that quarterly compliance checks and mandatory penalties were associated with substantial reductions in retail alcohol sales to underage buyers

 

Missing Links

The Bill makes no mention of two important areas:

Tackling Problem Drinking

18. Although the Bill refers to the links between alcohol and crime and disorder, it does not propose any mechanisms by which to deal with this issue. Whilst the majority of .binge drinkers. may not necessarily be alcohol dependent and require ongoing specialist treatment, we would strongly advocate the use of .brief interventions. which have been shown to  be effective in tackling problematic alcohol consumption patterns for those binge drinkers who come into contact with the police

19. This could be rolled out using effective arrest referral mechanisms, which studies undertaken in Worcester and Dudley, for example, have shown to be a useful way of tackling alcohol related offending

Changing Practice as well as policy

20. This is vital if the low levels of enforcement of legislation are to be improved. The success of the Home Office “Together” campaign shows the importance of sustained attention to problem areas. The Home Office Campaigns of Summer and Christmas 2004 were a welcome step forwards in this area, but the figures (Over the course of the campaign, police and trading standards officers issued over 4,000 fixed penalty notices and confiscated alcohol from more than 9,500 adults and juveniles) demonstrate the clear need to make this level of multi agency collaboration and focus a priority throughout the year. 
 
21. Enforcement of legislation on drunk and disorderly behaviour has dropped sharply over the last 10 years which reflects the problems in policing large numbers of drunk people and the low priority given to the problem historically.  Similarly anecdotal evidence suggests that sanctions against irresponsible retailers such as the ability to shut rowdy premises for 24 hours are not used but we have not been able to access comprehensive data on this

 

About Alcohol Concern

Alcohol Concern is the national voluntary organisation working on alcohol misuse and our aims are to reduce the harm caused by alcohol misuse to individuals, families and communities and to improve services available to problem drinkers and their families

For further information please contact Geethika Jayatilaka at Alcohol Concern on 0207 928 7377.