Kit Malthouse: Dealing with some misconceptions about compulsory sobriety

Kit Malthouse is a Member of the London Assembly representing the West Central constituency, and the Deputy Mayor of London for Policing.

I am glad to see Baroness Jenkin’s excellent piece on Compulsory Sobriety last week attracted so much interest.  The idea of Compulsory Sobriety – a sentencing tool allowing courts to order violent drunks to sober up – has gained momentum, and the Government will now introduce its own amendments to the Legal Aid Bill allowing Boris Johnson and me to pilot our scheme.

I want to clear up a few misunderstandings that I have seen in posted comments:

• The scheme is not a soft alternative to proper punishment.  If a person has committed a serious enough offence he should serve a prison term. The Sobriety tool is an extra rehabilitative step. It is something a judge can add to the end of a stiff sentence, or give in lieu of a sentence for less serious offences.

• It is not meant to add to bureaucracy, it is meant to cut through the wasteful exercise of prison sentences that don’t work and repeat re-offenders who get violent whenever they are drunk.

• It is not a cure for alcoholism, and it is not even for people who drink too much. It’s a crime initiative. People may enjoy their drinks if they remain pleasant about it. When a person becomes violent, it becomes a matter for the courts.

If you remain unconvinced, I suggest raising the idea with any friends who are police officers, NHS professionals, judges or magistrates. They are all tired of dealing with the same violent offenders time and again, and overwhelmingly support this new discretionary tool.

Kit Malthouse: Today, MPs have a chance to help clean up town and city centres, by voting for "Compulsory Sobriety"

Kit Malthouse is a Member of the London Assembly representing the West Central constituency, and the Deputy Mayor of London for Policing.

The Commons will vote today on a new sentence of “Compulsory Sobriety” for criminals who offend when drunk. Towns and cities up and down the land desperately need this amendment to pass if they are to stand any chance of turning back the tide of Saturday night blood, vomit and crime. 

Wander into any police custody suite in the evening and you can smell the cause of crime. A heady cocktail fills the air. Walk into any A&E on a Saturday night and you will smell the same acrid perfume. Our booze and violence culture is at the root of volume crime and family breakdown in much of Britain, and it’s costing us billions to clear up.

Back in the summer of 2009, David Cameron paid a visit to Hull to see the toll that alcohol related violence was taking on that city. In the subsequent WebCameron he seemed astonished at the sheer volume of cheap alcohol confiscated by the cops. Part of the solution was, the Prime Minister stated, minimum pricing for alcohol and a tightening of the licensing regime; both steps in the right direction.