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News Archives: Index

October 7, 2010: Probation Set For Industrial Action

October 5, 2010: Turning Prisoners Into Taxpayers

October 4, 2010: Murder Changes Now In Force

September 20, 2010: Probation Programmes Face Cuts

August 24, 2010: Victorian Poor Law Records Online

August 10, 2010: Justice Job Cuts

July 28, 2010: Prison Violence Growing

July 22, 2010: Police Numbers: Latest Figures

July 22, 2010: New Jurisdiction Rules

July 16, 2010: CCJS On Prison And Probation Spending Under Labour

July 15, 2010: Latest Statistics On Violent And Sexual Crime

July 15, 2010: Latest National Crime Figures

July 15, 2010: New Chief Prisons Inspector

July 14, 2010: Hard Times Ahead For Prisons: Anne Owers

July 14, 2010: Prison Does Not Work: Ken Clarke

July 13, 2010: Criminal Justice Reform: Sentencing and Rehabilitation

July 13, 2010: Criminal Justice Reform Priorities

July 12, 2010: What Price Public Protection, Asks Probation Chief Inspector

July 12, 2010: NOMS has failed, says Napo

July 10, 2010: IPCC To Investigate Death of Raoul Moat

July 9, 2010: Women In Prison: New Report

July 9, 2009: Unjust Deserts: Imprisonment for Public Protection

July 8, 2010: Police Search Powers Change

July 7, 2010: Make 'Legal High' Illegal, Says ACMD

July 2, 2010: Failing Children In Prison

July 2, 2010: Police Buried Under a Blizzard of Guidance: HMIC

July 1, 2010: Freedom To Change The Law?

June 30, 2010: A New Outlook On Penal Reform?

June 30, 2010: Revolving Door Of Offending Must Stop, Says Clarke

June 30, 2010: Ken Clarke: Speech on Criminal Justice Reform

June 29, 2010: No More Police Targets

June 26, 2010: Family Intervention Projects Questioned

June 25, 2010: Cutting Criminal Justice

June 24, 2010: Napo on Sex Offenders Report

June 23, 2010: Closing Courts: The Cuts Begin

June 23, 2010: Strategy To Tackle Gangs

June 15, 2010: Courts and Mentally Disordered Offenders

June 8, 2010: Working With Muslims in Prison

June 1, 2010: Your Chance To Nominate a QC

December 23, 2004: More Jailed Due to Alcohol Than Drugs: Howard League

More young men are in prison because of alcohol than drugs, according to a report just published by the Howard League for Penal Reform. The report, entitled A Sobering Thought, is part of the Howard League for Penal Reform’s Out for Good two-year research project.

The report concludes that more than half (52 per cent) of 18-20 year olds in prison say alcohol was one of the reasons they got into trouble, whereas 43 per cent say drugs played a part. The research demonstrates that over 7,000 young men are received into prison each year because of offending, which they themselves say, is related to alcohol. The research also found that:

  • Three quarters of young male prisoners had been suspended, excluded or had stopped attending school.
  • Half of young male prisoners were unemployed before they went to prison.
  • More than a quarter (27 per cent) had been in care.
  • More than half (52 per cent) had a family member who had been in prison.

The Howard League has called for:

  • More accessible and meaningful alcohol awareness highlighting the damage that alcohol can do, taking into account the ways in which young people consume alcohol.
  • Recognition that abstinence focussed approaches to tackling drinking are highly unlikely to be effective.
  • More sophisticated approaches to tackling alcohol use should be adopted rather than following the drug misuse model which has largely focussed on criminal justice, rather than health, interventions.
  • Criminal justice agencies to provide support and advice to young offenders in relation to alcohol use, alcohol-related health problems, and links between drinking and offending.
  • A reduction in the number of young men held in prison in recognition of the damage that imprisonment does in relation to mental health, family contact, employment, housing and the ongoing life chances of the individual.