All courts in Wales will be able to require offenders to wear tags, followed by all magistrates and judges in England in the new year
Sobriety beacons designed to stop criminals from drinking alcohol are to be launched nationwide from Wednesday, with offenders facing jail or tougher penalties if they fail to stay in total for at least four months
All courts in Wales will be able to require violators to wear the tags from Wednesday, followed by all magistrates and judges in England in the new year
Ministers are also developing plans under a new harsh sentencing regime to give courts the power to force criminals to wear ankles for up to two years The new laws are expected in the next year
The labels will target offenders whose crime is related to drink, whether it’s alcohol-related assault, domestic violence, burglary, shoplifting or theft
Drinking is a factor in around 39% of violent crime, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), with the social and economic cost of alcohol-related damage estimated at £ 21bn per year
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Kit Malthouse, the police minister, said the labels will be used to enforce alcohol abstinence orders of up to 120 days, with any offense requiring the offender to return to court
« This proven new tool can break the cycle of self-destruction that offenders find themselves in, helping them get sober if they want to and the courts to punish those who don’t, » he said. declared
« Too often we see the devastating effects of alcohol-related behaviors, reckless crime and occasional violence that ravage our neighborhoods and the lives of too many victims »
The labels are so sensitive that they can detect alcohol in an offender’s sweat and be different from ambient alcohol such as that in hand sanitizer
Each beacon takes alcohol readings every 30 minutes, then transmits the information to a management center where probation officers can access it 24/7
Tamper and infrared detectors can detect any attempt to remove or place objects between the tag and dowel, then alert the management center
Beacons are being rolled out nationwide after two successful pilots in London and Humberside, Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire, which showed offenders were alcohol-free for over 97% of supervision days
An offender, who took part in the trial after being convicted of threatening with a weapon, said before the order that he was becoming « a mean and horrible person »
He said the label helped stop him from drinking due to the threat of going to jail if he didn’t comply « I am now stronger, more positive and I think better « , he added
The Department of Justice predicts that approximately 1,000 offenders will appear on sobriety labels at any one time
The move comes as the government plans that all burglars released from prison must be equipped with GPS beacons so they can be tracked 24/7
M Malthouse revealed earlier this month that he wanted all released burglars to be tagged so that police forces could check every burglary in their area against the criminals’ movements, to see if they could be suspects. p>
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Wales, alcoholic drink, sobriety
News from the world – GB – Sobriety beacons prevent criminals from drinking alcohol for up to four months
