Hazel Blears a Home Office Minister and sponsor Minister of the Governments alcohol harm reduction programme in September 2003 when commenting on new police powers to curb anti social drinking highlighted the " noisy and aggressive behaviour associated with weekend binge drinkers - and further stated that "We know that violent crime is often fuelled by alcohol-the British Crime Survey shows that 47 per cent of violent crimes are committed by offenders under the influence of alcohol."".
Alcohol also plays a contributory factor in other offences involving violence. In 2000 the BCS revealed that 17% of muggings were committed by offenders under the influence of alcohol. The survey also revealed that alcohol was a significant factor in a third of all arrests made by the police.
A hidden crime that often goes unreported but worryingly shows an increasing link to alcohol is that of domestic violence. The 2001/02 (BCS) found that there were an estimated 635,000 incidents of domestic violence in England and Wales. Whilst significant resources are placed into policing the very public incidents of violence in the street, violence in the home often goes unreported. On average a woman will be assaulted by her partner or ex-partner 35 times before reporting it to the police. (Refuge, 2004). Alcohol was shown to have played a part in 44% of all domestic violence offences in 2000 (BCS, 2000) up from 33% in 1998.
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Setting.
Whilst research shows that there is a clear link between alcohol and violent crime it is difficult to prove that there is a causal existence between the two. There would appear to be a number of other factors such as personality, which play a significant role in alcohol-related aggression. However one factor that appears to have a major impact is that of setting. It is no coincidence that statistics reveal that a large proportion of violent crime occurs between 9pm and 3am over the weekend period within or directly outside licensed premises (BCS, 2000).
