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Home Office

Answer

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the proportion of violent crime which is (a) drug-related and (b) alcohol-related. [134997] Mr. Charles Clarke: Statistical data are not collected on offences which may have been committed while an offender is under the influence of alcohol or drugs. However, both the British Crime Survey and the NEW-ADAM programme of interviewing and drug testing arrestees shed some light on the links between drugs, alcohol and crime. The 2000 British Crime Survey reported that 40 per cent. of victims of violent crime believed their attacker was under the influence of alcohol while 18 per cent. believed that the perpetrator was under the influence of drugs. The Home Office has commissioned research by the University of Cambridge to continue the NEW-ADAM programme of interviewing and drug testing arrestees. The second report on this research was published in August 2000 (Home Office Research Study 205, Drugs and Crime: The results of the second developmental stage of the NEW-ADAM programme. The research, which was undertaken at four sites (in London, Liverpool, Nottingham and Sunderland), found over two thirds of arrestees (69 per cent.) tested positively for at least one drug (excluding alcohol) and 20 per cent. tested positive for alcohol. In terms of specific violent offences, of the 41 individuals arrested for assault 61 per cent. tested positive for a drug and 32 per cent. for alcohol; of the 18 individuals arrested for breach of the peace 33 per cent. tested positive for a drug and 61 per cent. for alcohol. It should be remembered that because an arrestee tested positive for alcohol or drugs or a victim believed that a perpetrator was under the influence of drugs or alcohol it does not necessarily mean that the consumption of alcohol or drugs caused the crime to be committed. As a result, while the NEW-ADAM study and the British Crime Survey advance our knowledge of the links between drugs, alcohol and crime, it will always be difficult to calculate a single percentage figure calculating precisely what proportion of crime is alcohol or drug-related.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

355 c431-2W; 134997

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Alcoholic drinks Crimes of violence Arrests Drugs Drunkenness Misuse Research Testing British Crime Survey

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk