- Alcohol bans mean mulled wine and brandy are off the menu for
offenders with drink problems
- Alcohol tags monitoring around 770 offenders this Christmas
- New technology is helping the Probation Service crackdown on
alcohol-fuelled crime.
The tags enforce alcohol bans either handed down by a judge or by
the Probation Service as an extra licence condition for those
coming out of prison.
Alcohol plays a part in 39 per cent of all violent crime in the
UK, including domestic abuse which charities say rises
significantly during the festive period.
Offenders with an alcohol ban have stayed sober on 97 percent of
the days they were tagged but those who do drink face returning
to court or prison for further punishment.
Alcohol tags have proved an important new tool helping the
Probation Service to keep the public safe since first used in
Wales last October.
Since then their use has expanded to England and the Government
recently announced plans to use them on prison leavers. Over
12,000 offenders will have to wear an alcohol tag over the next
three years.
Crime, Policing and Probation Minister said:
Alcohol-fuelled violence ruins too many lives and families and
creates mayhem in our town centres. It is a sad reality that over
Christmas we see a worrying spike in domestic abuse and crimes
fuelled by drink.
Sobriety tags have already brought enormous benefit helping
offenders change their ways and the Probation Service to clamp
down on this behaviour and protect victims from further violence.
Figures show that of all higher risk offenders managed by
probation officers in the community, around 20 per cent had an
alcohol problem.
Alcohol tags have been available for judges and magistrates to
impose on offenders serving community sentences since last
October.
Since November, as part of a national roll-out, the tags have
been used on offenders coming out of prison under Probation
Service supervision in Wales. The scheme will be rolled out to
England next summer.
The tags help probation officers keep a closer eye on offenders’
behaviour, support them to turn their backs on crime and provide
offenders with the incentive to break bad habits.
The Government is investing £183 million to expand electronic
monitoring over the next three years to improve public safety -
the number of people tagged at any one time will double from
around 13,500 this year to approximately 25,000 by 2025.
