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Probation resources too stretched to adequately tackle huge drink problem

January 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This report on work in England and Wales describes a system creatively grappling with a huge drink problem among offenders, but one undermined by lack of evidence about what works and by under-resourcing linked to a dispute over whether health or probation should bear the core funding burden.

Extract

  • Conducted by the Institute for Criminal Policy Research, this study examined how the probation service in England and Wales works with alcohol-misusing offenders. In particular:
    procedures for identifying and intervening with problem-drinking offenders;
  • how far these complied with the principles set out in national guidance; and
  • arrangements for the commissioning and delivery of sentences which involve alcohol treatment requirements.

Based on responses to the national survey and stakeholder interviews, it seemed that the commissioning and delivery of alcohol services had been hampered by lack of: resources and dedicated funding; guidance on the targeting of interventions; appropriate and accessible treatment; probation staff’s relevant confidence, skills and knowledge; and the prioritising of alcohol-related work by local commissioners.

The report describes a system creatively grappling with a huge drink problem among offenders, but one substantially undermined by the lack of evidence about what works to reduce those problems and curb re-offending, and by under-resourcing linked to a dispute over whether health or probation should bear the core burden of addressing these problems through brief interventions and treatment.

Read the full story at our partner site Drug and Alcohol Findings

Filed Under: Alcohol Findings Tagged With: , ,
About Mike Ashton

Mike Ashton is the editor of Drug and Alcohol Findings, a collaborative project involving the National Addiction Centre, DrugScope and Alcohol Concern.

It produced the world’s only magazine devoted to evaluations of the effectiveness of alcohol and drug interventions and now offers a similar service from its web site Findings.

Previously he produced the first two Annual Reports on the State of the Drugs Problem in the European Union for the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction and Juice, a magazine for drug users in the UK. His background was 20 years at the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence, then the UK’s information service on the misuse of drugs, where he was became co-responsible for publications and founded the Druglink magazine. He edited the magazine for 10 years until leaving the Institute in 1995.

Until standing down in 2003 he also chaired (and remains a board member for) T3E UK, a charity especially concerned with race and drugs issues on which it provides training, research and consultancy.

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