Statistics released this morning show how many offenders have
been made to wear a tag over the Christmas and New Year period,
which work by monitoring the alcohol content in an individual’s
sweat.
Last Christmas around 800 offenders wore the device, just 12
months later the figure has more than doubled – helping to tackle
alcohol-related crime over the festive period.
The tags are accurate enough to distinguish between foods that
contain low-levels of alcohol – such as brandy sauce on Christmas
Pudding – and drinks such as mulled wine that offenders could get
drunk from.
Offenders banned from alcohol by the courts have stayed sober on
97% of the days they were tagged, but those who do drink can face
returning to court for further punishment, including prison.
39% of all violent crime in the UK involves alcohol, including
domestic abuse which can rise during the festive period as
figures provided by charities such as Women’s Aid have often
demonstrated.
Prisons and Probation Minister, , said:
Alcohol-fuelled crime such as domestic abuse is known to spike
over the festive period, but our new alcohol tags can help stop
that – protecting victims and tackling the causes of offending.
We’re investing £183 million in electronic monitoring and the
increased use of sobriety tags is already helping to keep our
communities safer.
Alcohol tags are part of the government’s £183 million investment
over the next 3 years to use innovative tagging technology to
help tackle crime, with roughly 12,000 tagging orders expected to
be made during this period.
The tags were first rolled out in 2020 as a punishment for
alcohol-fuelled crimes and are also used to help keep the public
safe from offenders considered likely to commit crimes when
drunk.
They monitor alcohol bans for offenders on community sentences
handed down by judges or magistrates and can also be used as a
licence condition for prison leavers.
Roughly 20% of those supervised by probation are classed as
having a drink problem and alcohol-fuelled crime is estimated to
cost our society £21 billion per year.
Last year, the government launched another
world-first, using GPS tags to
track robbers, thieves and burglars. Around 10,000 tagging orders
are expected to be made over the next 3 years to help stop
criminals from reoffending and help police catch them if they
carry on.
The £183 million investment over the next 3 years will nearly
double the number of defendants on tags at any one time from
13,500 in 2021 to 25,000 by 2025.
Notes to editors
