Calling Time On Booze And Blade

Judges refer to it as the “bog standard murder”. One drunken young man argues with another after a night of binge drinking. In anger he reaches for the sharpest thing to hand, a broken bottle or a knife, and lashes out.

Some 69% of those accused of murder are drunk or on drugs at the time. Many young men – and the majority of offenders are young and male – convicted of violent crime claim not even to be able to remember what happened.

For the surgeons trying to patch up their victims, the police officers trying to reduce violent crime and the politicians and public who want to be proud of where they live, Scotland’s so-called booze and blade culture is harder to forget.

Like most of the inmates at Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution, Chris, 17, admits he was drunk when he committed the serious assault which resulted in his incarceration.

But now he is remorseful and sees “that” as no excuse. Becoming a father and learning, through programmes delivered at Polmont, about his responsibility as a parent has made him determined to turn his life around.

He said: “My girl could end up in jail because I have not been there for her. I don’t want that to happen, and I don’t want her growing up to think badly of me. I want her to be proud of me, so I will be getting a job when I get out.”

Today the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) third global violence reduction conference meets at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan – a complement to the ground-breaking work being done here and stark reminder of the country’s international reputation.

In 2004, Scotland’s homicide figures reached their highest level in more than a decade. The number of victims rose 25% to 137. Decades after the era of the city’s razor gangs, Glasgow had one of the highest murder rates of any western European city, with 55 victims per million people, compared with 22 for Scotland overall.

In recent years ministers have launched various campaigns, including a knife amnesty, to try to tackle the problem. They also made Strathclyde Police’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), a national centre for excellence in order to focus on crime prevention.
There is a machismo culture here that we can drink every other culture under the table

The following year the figures fell. However, figures released last month showed violent crime had increased again. There were 77 murders in Strathclyde between April 2006 and March 2007, a rise of 20% from a particularly quiet year 12 months earlier. Attempted murders were up too, from 367 to 374.

Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, head of the VRU, says there is no further need to debate the link between alcohol and violence, as it is well proven. Figures reveal almost half of Scotland’s prisoners committed their crimes whilst drunk. The question now is how to tackle the problem.

During the next three days health and criminal justice experts from around the world will give their views at the WHO conference in Tulliallan.

Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, will say that Scotland needs to change radically its attitude towards alcohol and that we have to start taking responsibility for our actions. “There is a lethal concoction of alcohol and violence which blights Scotland,” he told The Herald in advance of the conference.

“There is a machismo culture here that we can drink every other culture under the table. There are a good many things to be proud of in Scotland, whether we can drink others under the table should not be one of them.

“We can not use our northern location as an excuse either. Toronto does not have the same problems. We can not reciprocate the cafe culture of Spain in Scotland, but we can make it clear that the excuse has to stop.”

Alcohol abuse now kills six people in Scotland every day. Recent figures show just 39% of alcohol is now sold in traditional licensed premises such as bars, pubs, nightclubs, hotels and restaurants. Of the rest, the six big supermarkets control 83.3% of the remaining sales.

Medical professionals and alcohol action groups have called for promotional curbs to be extended to off-sales and supermarkets.

Mr MacAskill has already announced plans to target supermarket and off-sales promotions of cheap drink.

The licensing act, passed two years ago, will be phased in soon with most parts starting in September 2009.

It is expected to allow for additional restrictions on drinks promotions and Mr MacAskill is keen to ensure off-licences are also tackled.

Jack Law, head of Alcohol Focus Scotland and one of the speakers at the conference, believes the executive needs to go even further to tackle the scourge of alcohol-related violence.

“By getting drunk you increase your risk of being assaulted or perpetrating an assault,” he said. “We would agree that drink should not be a mitigating circumstance. But we also strongly believe that those committing crimes whilst under the influence should undergo alcohol treatment as part of their sentence.

“There are programmes to help such people and reduce their risk of reoffending which are not currently being used in Scotland.”

Research indicates that many of the cognitive and emotional skills which influence whether a person will become violent or not, are developed by the age of three.

Mr Carnochan believes that improving parenting with classes and support programmes, such as those Chris has completed in Polmont, will help to reduce violence in the longer term.

In Canada young children are given classes in empathy and parenting skills. Dr Mary Gordon, president of Roots of Empathy, initiated the classes which are now being piloted in Australia and New Zealand. She is speaking at the conference on Wednesday.

“Many of the root causes of alcoholism and violence are lodged in the early years,” she said.

“The research shows that when empathy increases, aggression goes down.”