NCJ Number
192916
Date Published
November 2000
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This paper describes the extent to which alcohol-related crime was identified as an issue in British local audit and strategy documents, and it provides practical recommendations for future work.
Abstract
The British Crime and Disorder Act (1998) requires that local authorities and the police conduct local crime audits and devise strategies to reduce identified problems. The current study examined audit documents for references to alcohol-related crime, and it analyzed strategy documents to obtain information on how local partnerships intended to address such crime. Findings showed that over 70 percent of the audit documents mentioned alcohol as an issue. Over 40 percent of audit documents identified drunkenness as an issue; nearly 60 percent cited alcohol in public-order problems; nearly 9 percent highlighted a link between alcohol and domestic violence; and 5 percent identified a link between local vandalism and alcohol misuse. Alcohol-related crime featured prominently in the Crime and Disorder strategies with 85 percent of the communities; however, no partnership had a strategic priority that focused on alcohol abuse as an issue in its own right. Fifty-seven percent of the communities included alcohol-related crime and disorder under a general substance misuse/drug priority. The study recommends that Crime and Disorder partnerships that identify alcohol as a local issue be encouraged to set alcohol-related crime reduction targets that are distinct from drug-related crime targets. It also recommends that local alcohol services be encouraged to participate where possible in partnerships to develop a more strategic approach to alcohol-related crime. 2 references