Citation

Deehan A. Crime Prev. Community Safety 2001; 3(4): 47-54.

Affiliation

National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction, Flinders University, Adelaide, S Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group -- Palgrave-Macmillan)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The role of alcohol in crime has been long debated. Does alcohol cause crime or is it merely one of a multitude of factors that are associated with crime? In the midst of this debate there is one fact: the police regularly come into contact with individuals as a result of the latter's alcohol consumption -- and such contact may offer a window of opportunity for public health interventions. While strategies to combat drug-related crime routinely include a public health approach targeting the individual's drug use, alcohol-related crime reduction strategies rarely target the individual's alcohol consumption. This paper explores the potential benefits of applying alcohol-related public health interventions to police arrestees. It begins by examining the reasons why alcohol public health policy has not filtered into the criminal justice system in the UK. In addition what role, if any, the police could legitimately have is explored. Finally, it argues that an alcohol public health element in a crime reduction strategy should focus on the problematic alcohol users rather than dependent alcohol users alone.