Gavin Dingwall

Alcohol and crime.

Alcohol is massively associated with crime. Evidence from the British Medical Association found that alcohol use is associated with 60-70 per cent of murders, 70 per cent of stabbings, 50 per cent of fights or assaults in the home. For non-violent offences the association is very strong as well: 88 per cent of those arrested for criminal damage, 83 per cent for breach of the peace, 41 per cent for theft and 26 per cent for burglary, had drunk in the four hours prior to their arrest. At the same time there has been intense concern about public drunkenness in town and city centres, especially on the part of young people, and the cost and damage this causes. This book seeks to understand the nature of the connection between alcohol and crime, and the way the criminal justice system responds to the problem, providing a clear and accessible account and analysis of the subject. It draws upon a wide range of sources and research findings, and also sets the subject within a broader comparative context. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, and includes a sociological account of the role of alcohol in British society, a criminological analysis of the link between alcohol and crime and a philosophical consideration of individual responsibility for harm caused whilst intoxicated, and a legal analysis of different approaches that can be adopted as a response to alcohol-related offending. • strong association between alcohol and crime and a key focus of government policy • accessible and comprehensive account of the subject • shows the way in which the criminal justice system seeks to deal with the problem and assesses recent government policy initiatives

Does plural suit rural? Reflections on quasi-policing in the countryside

It is widely accepted that the policing needs of rural areas can be very different from those of urban areas. Because of the concentration of population and (generally) higher crime rates, reforms in policing often appear to be driven by urban priorities, which raises questions about how they operate in the rural context. This article is concerned with one recent development in England and Wales: the introduction of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). Drawing upon interviews with rural PCSOs and the police officers who manage them, this study asks how PCSOs operate in country areas and what difficulties they face. A number of themes emerged: that lack of career development may hinder the formation of long-term ties to a particular community; that the size of beats requires transport; that PCSOs felt unable to respond effectively to minor road traffic offences which were of concern to local residents; that statutory powers to detain could be difficult to enforce; and that PCSOs might be particularly suited to bridge the gap with communities with which the police are having trouble engaging, such as migrant agricultural workers.

Determining the impact of intoxication in a desert-based sentencing framework

Research has consistently found a significant correlation between alcohol consumption and offending. Although this finding does not prove any direct causal link, many offenders subsequently claim that the fact that they had been drinking should mitigate their sentence. As the argument advanced by offenders is framed in retributive terms—culpability is reduced because of intoxication—this article aims to analyse the impact, if any, that intoxication should have under a desert model.

Challenging the ongoing injustice of imprisonment for public protection: James, Wells and Lee v the United Kingdom

The Government has recently abolished Imprisonment for Public Protection, a highly controversial form of indeterminate sentence. Yet, at the time of writing, nearly 6,000 inmates are still serving such sentences, all of whom will have to convince a Parole Board that detention is no longer necessary for the protection of the public. This paper evaluates recent European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence which considered the legality of post‐tariff detention in the absence of suitable rehabilitative provisions. The Court held that there would be a violation of Article 5(1) if prisoners were held without access to such provisions. Consideration is given to the implications of this ruling for those serving such sentences and, more broadly, to the impact it may have on risk‐based sentencing policies.

Addressing the Boundaries of Consent in Rape

IT IS trite law that the absence of consent turns sexual intercourse into rape (assuming the other constituent elements of the offence are present).2 It is trite because consent is not a self-defining concept3: as the boundaries of the term are not clear, an earlier decision has to be taken regarding exactly what is meant by the term “consent” in order for the jury to determine in any given scenario whether or not the sexual intercourse was non-consensual. At the extremes this may not appear problematic. Intuitively there are scenarios where an individual clearly does consent to have sexual intercourse just as there are scenarios where consent is obviously not present, where, for example, an individual submits to sexual intercourse because he or she has been physically overcome to such an extent that he or she can offer no effective resistance. But between these two extremes there are a variety of intermediary scenarios where, even though the facts may not be in dispute, the circumstances make it debatable whether consent was present. The jurisprudential task in each of these intermediary scenarios is to determine whether the “consent” that was given is in fact “real” and should therefore be regarded as legally transformative.4 In order to make this determination, some legal actor has to determine at what point on the continuum of coercive5 conduct one moves from

The Continuing Chronology of Confusion: Crime Prevention, Welfare and the Why of Youth Justice

International human rights law states that child well-being must be paramount. The aims of the Youth Justice System in England and Wales should reflect this, but the present system fails to do so as its aims are various and lack coherence. This article argues that this incoherence emanates from an apparent conflict between welfare and crime prevention. The authors argue that this dichotomy is false if one recognises that crime will only be prevented by prioritising the welfare and well-being of the child offender. Adopting this approach would satisfy international obligations and reduce the risk of offending and reoffending.

The retrospective effect of section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998

When the House of Lords delivered its judgment in Lambert, comment initially concerned the fact that their Lordships held that the legal burden of proof placed on defendants in s. 28 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 contravened the presumption of innocence contained in Article 6(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights. This was indeed a major and potentially far-reaching finding, but it was in fact obiter dicta for the House also held that a defendant who was convicted prior to s. 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 coming into force could not rely on that section in an appeal after the Act came into force, except in certain carefully prescribed circumstances. It is only now when subsequent case law has challenged this finding that its importance has been fully recognised. This article aims to respond to the academic neglect of this point through a careful scrutiny of the judgments in Lambert and will argue that, despite recent judicial criticism, the majority in Lambert deconstructed a complex statutory framework to expose Parliaments limited intention to ‘bring rights home’.