Evaluating screening and brief intervention in a criminal justice

setting

Adrian Barton & Greta SquireSchool of Law and Social Science

University of Plymouth

Alcohol: culture and economics

In the UK, alcohol is:• Readily available and being consumed in

increasing quantities

• 66.5% of the population drink alcohol at least once a week

• Inexpensive relative to average incomes • Socially acceptable

Alcohol: an emergent problem?

• The problems excessive alcohol use carries in terms of health, public order and loss of productivity (£15.4 billion p.a. combined costs)

• High levels of use and misuse amongst the young• Some recent public policy initiatives include:Crime and

Disorder Reduction Partnerships statutory duty to have an alcohol strategy

• Primary Care Trusts will need to include alcohol in their joint strategic needs assessment.

• PSA to have alcohol targets in terms of health and public order

Screening and brief intervention

• Works on opportunistic contacts with non-treatment seeking individuals

• Drinking scored as hazardous; harmful; dependent

• ‘reducing alcohol consumption among people with comparatively mild problems results in much greater reduction of alcohol related harm…than simply reducing problems amongst severely dependent’ (Alcohol Concern 2007)

Screening and brief intervention

• Works on opportunistic contacts with non-treatment seeking individuals

• Drinking scored as hazardous; harmful; dependent

• ‘reducing alcohol consumption among people with comparatively mild problems results in much greater reduction of alcohol related harm…than simply reducing problems amongst severely dependent’ (Alcohol Concern 2007)

SBI in a criminal justice context

• Innovative and groundbreaking project• Provides contact with those whose drinking

has often contributed to anti-social and/or criminal behavior

• Arrest and detention can be the catalyst for change

• At least promotes an awareness of alcohol consumption in those screened

SBI: the Charles Cross Custody Project

• Started on the 7th March 2007 for 12 months.• Funded through Devon and Cornwall Police

and DAT• Employs 3 specialist alcohol workers and draw

on services from 15 trained police officers.• Aims of project are to engage and screen at

least 7 detainees per day within a target time of five minutes.

Methods

• Both quantitative and qualitative data used.• Quantitative – SBI forms• Qualitative – observation of meetings,

interview of police and alcohol workers, observation of SBI within custody suite.

• More in-depth interviews will be carried out on detainees that have had an intervention.

Findings.

• Demographics and Throughputs

• Overview of Alcohol Use

• Offence Type and Demographics

• Offending and Alcohol Use

Throughputs

• The project workers so far have completed 2470 forms between the dates of 7th March 2007 – 31st December 2007.

• On average 9 detainees have been seen each day.

• On average completion of the AUDIT process took 5.49 minutes.

• The most used form of intervention has been a mixture of advice and leaflets. With only 0.9% being referred.

Demographics• 84.5% were male and 15.4% were female.

• 96.6% of those detainees were classified as White European.

• Age range Percentage of detainees seen.17-24 47.5%25-30 17.4%31-35 10.6%36-40 9.8%41-45 6.7%46-50 3.5%51-55 2.5%56+ 2.1%

Overview of Alcohol UseAlcohol use scores by age group.

17-24 25-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56+

Low Risk Drinking

24.6% 33.8% 42.5% 38.2% 43.6% 35.6% 27.9% 34.0%

Medium Risk Hazardous drinking

36.1% 34.7% 32.6% 31.5% 18.2% 27.6% 26.2% 41.5%

High Risk Harmful Drinking

14.6% 10.7% 8.8% 6.6% 8.5% 6.9% 4.9% 9.4%

Dependent Drinking

24.6% 21.0% 16.1% 23.7% 29.7% 29.9% 41.0% 15.1%

Overview of Alcohol UseHow Often six or more units are consumed on one occasion.

17-24 25-30 30-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56+

Never 15.7 21.4 28.4 24.9 30.3 26.4 14.8 22.6

Less than monthly

7.4 10.3 11.5 12.0 7.3 3.4 9.8 11.3

Monthly 17.8 19.6 14.2 15.8 15.2 11.5 13.1 18.9

Weekly 43.4 34.3 31.8 26.1 24.2 33.3 32.8 20.8

Daily 15.7 14.5 14.2 21.2 23.0 25.3 29.5 26.4

Offence type and demographics

• 52.7% of 17-24 year olds were detained for violent offences.

• 60.5% of 17-24 year olds were detained for public order offences.

• 62.8% for criminal damage.

Offending and alcohol use

Offence

Criminal damage

Drink related specific

Acquisitive crimes

AdministrativeDrug relatedDriving relatedPublic OrderDomestic violence

OtherSexual offences

Violence

Co

un

t

400

300

200

100

0

Bar Chart

Daily or almost dailyWeeklyMonthlyLess than monthlyNever

How often do you have six or more units of alcohol on one occasion

Employment Status

Concluding thoughts

• Project impact to date:• Informed Plymouth BCU Violent crime Steering Group

policy• Informed CDRP policy• Integral to targeted alcohol reduction campaigns

aimed at specific groups• Informing drug and alcohol agencies development

plans• At least partly responsible for a rise in demand for tier

2 & 3 alcohol services