Alcohol gimmickry
According to a report on the BBC yesterday, the government is planning to implement so-called ‘Sobriety Orders’:
Offenders who commit alcohol-fuelled crimes are to be monitored with ankle tags and breath-tested to ensure they stop drinking, under government plans.
Police will have powers to impose “sobriety orders” on drinkers cautioned for minor offences, such as criminal damage or public disorder.
There will be regular breath tests, with known weekend bingers tested then, and ankle tags to monitor movements.
Sure, we can all agree that people who commit crimes, be they under the influence or not need to be punished but is breath testing potential drunks (at what cost in police time?) really a good idea?
Given what we know about how much profit government makes from alcohol I think not.
For serious and violent criminals with drink problems, ministers want to introduce new laws enabling the courts to impose sobriety orders as part of a suspended or community sentence.
If they are serious and/or violent criminals then they shouldn’t be getting suspended or community sentences in the first place – they should be sent to gaol!
Offenders would have to wear ankle tags that continuously monitored alcohol levels, for up to four months.
Erm, how does an ankle tag measure the amount of blood in one’s alcohol stream? Are those wearing one supposed to breathe on it every so often or is it going to be taking a blood sample on a regular basis?
Another type of tag, which has been tried out in England, uses a GPS system which would alert the authorities when people visited certain proscribed areas – such as pubs.
Ok, standard GPS tracking. Civilian or Military accuracy however? Don’t want to have issues with someone being in – or claiming they were in – the building next door. Also, it is possible to go to a pub and not drink.
Justice Minister Nick Herbert said: “Alcohol-fuelled violence and criminality causes mayhem in our towns and city centres.”
Mayhem? The dictionary defines mayhem as:
- Violent or damaging disorder; chaos.
- The crime of maliciously injuring or maiming someone, originally so as to render the victim defenceless.
Which is a somewhat OTT description of the civil disorder that a minority of people get up to after a few sherbets.
Indeed this idea seems so flawed that even the politicians on the opposition benches as well as the rent seekers can spot the holes:
Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said: “Increased use of community sentences, tagging, monitoring and initiatives to support those with drug and alcohol dependencies will require more resources.
“The government need to answer important questions about how they propose to fund increased use of community sentences given the Ministry of Justice budget faces cuts of a quarter.
The Prison Reform Trust said the government seemed to be resorting to “populist gimmicks” when current policies were actually working and had public support.
If this silly idea does go ahead, how long before someone suggests that each and everyone of us who likes a drink needs to have our consumption monitored, regardless of whether or not we have done something criminal under the influence of alcohol?