Enforced alcohol abstinence: does it reduce reoffending?

虽然近年来在犯罪政策中高度关注非法药物和相关暴力，但酒精在更大程度上被利用，与更多的犯罪，特别是暴力犯罪有牵连。法院有权对醉酒的罪犯作出相应的判决。在这样做时，他们可以根据饮酒和犯罪的性质，利用酒精治疗要求和/或禁酒令作为社区判决的一部分。还可以使用透皮酒精监测装置（或酒精监测标签）监测对戒酒要求的遵守情况，并以进一步的法庭听证、罚款和/或监禁相威胁。最近（2021年11月和2022年4月），酒精监测标签再次成为头条新闻，因为威尔士在缓刑服务监督下的出狱者“已知饮酒后再次犯罪”可以使用这些标签。它们用于强制戒酒或监测饮酒水平的用途引发了进一步的审查和辩论，因为计划于2022年夏天在英格兰进一步推广。他们以这种方式推出是基于研究表明高度遵守戒酒命令-以清醒的形式。然而，尽管这是它们的主要目标，但关于使用它们是否能特别减少长期再犯的证据有限。目前的研究将通过数据优先方案利用关联的行政法院和缓刑数据的潜力来解决这一证据差距。利用横断面和纵向分析，它将探讨如何使用与酒精有关的治疗或监测要求，以及这些要求是否减少了再犯。例如，接受酒精治疗/戒酒要求的人是否比因类似罪行被判入狱的人过得更好。该研究还将评估收到此类命令的罪犯的情况，以及这些命令对哪些人有效，以仔细审查这些要求是否不成比例地针对年龄、性别、种族和贫困人口。拟议的研究表明，威尔士目前正在继续推出酒精监测标签，并计划于2022年夏季在英格兰推出。它也与司法部（MOJ）的研究兴趣领域完全一致，因为它将为如何最好地“降低再犯罪率和改善生活机会”提供关键见解。当涉及到旨在减少与酒精有关的（再）犯罪的干预和规划时，它将考虑什么是有效的，对谁有效。在探讨与酒精相关（再）犯罪有关的现有“量刑方案，包括拘留替代方案”的效力以及公众和从业人员对此的信心时，它也说明了司法部对保护公众免受伤害的研究兴趣。它还反映了司法部在保护公众免受伤害方面的研究兴趣，并与有关电子标签/监控证据的更广泛辩论联系起来，有助于为减少与酒精有关的犯罪和支持康复以及降低召回率的方法提供信息。这项研究还将对正在进行的减少暴力工作具有更广泛的吸引力。

Whilst there has been intense focus on illicit drugs and associated violence in crime policy in recent years, alcohol is used to a greater degree and implicated in many more crimes, especially those of violence. Courts are left to sentence intoxicated offenders accordingly. In so doing, they may make use of alcohol treatment requirements and/or abstinence orders as part of a community sentence depending on the nature of the drinking and offending. Compliance with alcohol abstinence requirements can also be monitored using transdermal alcohol monitoring devices - or alcohol monitoring tags - which are backed up with the threat of further court hearings, fines and/or imprisonment. Alcohol monitoring tags have made the headlines again more recently (November 2021 and April 2022) as these have been made available for prison leavers under Probation Service supervision 'known to reoffend after drinking' in Wales. Their use for enforcing sobriety or monitor drinking levels invites further scrutiny and debate, as further roll out is planned in England in summer 2022. Their roll out in this way is based on research demonstrating high levels of compliance with alcohol abstinence orders - in the form of sobriety. However, there is limited evidence about whether their use reduces longer term re-offending specifically, despite this being their primary objective. The current study will address this evidence gap by harnessing the potential of linked administrative court and probation data via the DataFirst programme. Making use of both cross sectional and longitudinal analysis it will explore how alcohol-related treatment or monitoring requirements are being used and whether these are reducing re-offending. For example, whether those given alcohol treatment/abstinence requirements fare better than those sentenced to prison for similar offences. The study will also assess the profile of offenders issued with such orders and for whom such these are effective to scrutinise whether these requirements are disproportionately targeted at populations along the lines of age, gender, ethnicity, and deprivation.The proposed research speaks to timely developments in the continued roll out of alcohol-monitoring tags in Wales presently and planned roll out in England in summer 2022. It also aligns squarely with the Ministry of Justice's (MOJ) areas of research interest as it will contribute key insights into how best to "reduce rates of reoffending and improve life chances". It will do so by considering what works and for whom, when it comes to interventions and programmes aimed at reducing alcohol-related (re-)offending. In exploring the efficacy of available "sentencing options, including alternatives to custody" relating to alcohol-related (re-)offending and public and practitioner confidence therein, it also speaks to the MOJ's research interest in protecting the public from harm. It also speaks to the MOJ's research interest in protecting the public from harm and links into wider debates concerning the evidence on electronic tagging/monitoring and can help inform approaches to help reduce alcohol-related crime and support rehabilitation as well as reducing rates of recall back into custody. The study will also have broader appeal to ongoing violence reduction work.