§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What research has been conducted or sponsored by the Home Office on the problems of particular groups of offenders in relation to alcohol consumption.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Elton)Some early work on this subject was reported in the Home Office Research Study No. 28,Some Male Offenders' Problems, published in 1975. This study examined, among other things, the drinking problems of a group of homeless offenders. The drinking habits of offenders in custody were examined in Home Office Research Study No. 66, Petty Persistent Offenders, published in 1981.
A project is being carried out by the Home Office to evaluate the use of overnight shelters as a means of coping with drunkenness without resort to arrest; the British Crime Survey includes the self-reporting by respondents of their drinking habits and offending, which may allow some further analysis of the possible links between drinking habits and proneness to commit crime; and the Home Office Research and Planning Unit is investigating to what extent offences of violence are centred around licensed premises.