Summary: Judges will be given the power to make sure offenders who are responsible for alcohol-fuelled crimes remain sober after conviction through the use of sobriety ankle tags.
- Alcohol-fuelled crimes are a huge scourge on our high streets put a huge strain on frontline services, costing the taxpayer billions of pounds each year.
- We are giving judges the power to put sobriety ankle tags on offenders whose crimes are influenced by alcohol. The tags perform around-the-clock monitoring of alcohol consumption. If they drink again, breaching their alcohol abstinence order, they can be returned to court for further sanctions.
- These tags will help to rid our streets of alcohol-fuelled crimes, protect the public and help offenders understand the impact drinking alcohol can have on their behaviour – helping to reduce reoffending.
Background
- Alcohol misuse is intrinsically linked to both serious violent crime and to repeat low level crime and anti-social behaviour. Approximately 40 per cent of violent incidents are related to alcohol.
Our solution
- We will give all judges in England and Wales the power and resources to make sure offenders who are responsible for alcohol-fuelled crimes remain sober after conviction. Alcohol abstinence requirements will mean offenders will have to abstain from alcohol for a certain period of time (currently 120 days but we will increase it).
- These abstinence requirements will be monitored by electronic ankle tags We will ensure compliance with this requirement via the use of sobriety ankle tags which monitor alcohol levels in sweat. If the requirement is breached, authorities will be alerted, the judge can impose sanctions – including prison time – on the offender.
Conservative record
- Rolling out ‘sobriety tags’ across London following the success of Boris Johnson’s scheme when he was Mayor of London. In 2014, Boris Johnson (as Mayor of London) launched a pilot in London which put an ankle bracelet on offenders whose crimes were influenced by alcohol. Following a 92 per cent compliance rate, the pilot was rolled out across London 2016. This helps to reducing reoffending – so we can cut crime and better protect the public.
Political point to make
- Sobriety tags have been piloted in the Labour Police and Crime Commissioner area of Humberside, following the success of the London scheme. The Labour Police and Crime Commissioner of Humberside, Keith Hunter, said the policy was ‘very successful’ and he is ‘pleased to see the plans to roll out the scheme across all courts’ in the area.
Q: This was promised in the 2015 Conservative Party manifesto, why are we doing this only now?
We ran other pilots in the country to have the evidence base for the policy. In London, the final pilot ended in June 2018. We have analysed those results, they have been positive and so we are now rolling it out nationally.
