Nearly 2,000 criminals were tagged to detect if they drank alcohol this Christmas.
New statistics reveal that about 1,800 offenders have been dealt with by being forced to wear sobriety tags over Christmas and New Years. liquor crime.
Introduced in 2020, tags can monitor the alcohol content of an individual’s sweat and indicate whether alcohol-banned offenders are violating prohibition orders. This could mean returning to court for further punishment, including jail.
Accurate enough to distinguish alcoholic beverages from low-alcohol foods such as brandy butter and Christmas pudding.
This Christmas, the number of criminals with alcohol tags has more than doubled from last year’s figure of about 800.
According to the Ministry of Justice, people who are court-banned from drinking remain sober 97% of the days they are tagged.
But the festive period is especially important as 39% of all violent crimes in the UK are linked to alcohol, including domestic violence which is likely to rise during Christmas and New Years.
Read more: Sobriety tag launched for criminals who commit alcohol-related crimes
About 20% of people on probation are classified as having an alcohol problem, and it is estimated that alcohol-related offenses cost the UK £21 billion a year.
This tag can also be used to monitor communal prison term offenders who are prohibited from drinking alcohol and as a condition for permitting those leaving prison.
Prisons and Probation Minister Damian Hines said: “Alcohol-fueled crime, such as domestic violence, is known to spike during the festive season, but our new alcohol tag will help victims Protecting and tackling the causes of crime can help stop it.
“We have invested £183m in electronic surveillance and the increased use of sobriety tags is already helping to keep our communities safer.”
The government has said it will invest £183m over the next three years in tagging technology to tackle crime.