Alcohol and crime :Cross Stitch – Crime and justice

The links between alcohol and violence are well known, but did you know that alcohol is a factor in nearly half of all violent crimes? Find out what you can do about alcohol-related crime in your area.

Alcohol frequently plays a role in certain kinds of crime including:

• anti-social behaviour
• assault
• robbery

In many cases both the criminal and the victim had been drinking before the crime took place. That makes it harder for the police to get a good description of the suspect and to find out what happened.

If fear of alcohol-related violence and intimidation keeps you away from town centres on weekend evenings, you’re not alone. This is a problem in many communities.

To stop that kind of intimidating rowdiness, police can issue on-the-spot fines in the form of penalty notices for intimidating drunken behaviour.

Notices can be issued for things like:

• public drunkenness
• creating a nuisance
• urinating in public
• threatening behaviour

These notices result in instant fines that vary based on the severity of what happened in each case.

Anyone who consistently drinks too much and breaks the law, can also receive an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO). That order will be tailored to limit where they go and what they do, and can order them not to enter certain pubs or bars.

If they later violate that order they could receive more severe penalties, including high fines, and even time in jail.