CRIMINALS FACE BOOZE BAN IN NEW CRACKDOWN
Soft touch justice warning over plans to make alcohol thugs wear ‘sobriety tags’
TENS of thousands of criminals face being banned from drinking alcohol under radical plans to introduce ‘sobriety tags’.
The Scottish Government has awarded a multi-million-pound contract which includes the use of ‘remote alcohol monitoring’.
Worn around the ankle in a similar way to existing electronic tags, the technology is able to detect if an individual has consumed alcohol through monitoring their sweat.
Ministers are currently in discussions about handing Scottish courts the power to force criminals whose convictions are linked to alcohol to wear the tags.
They could then be forced to go dry for several months in order to try to tackle the alcohol problem which has contributed to their crimes. The system, which has already been introduced in parts of Europe and the United States and is being piloted in England, could also be used for prisoners who are released on home curfew.
Any failure to comply would be a criminal offence.
But ministers were last night urged to avoid using the new technology as a soft touch alternative to prison sentences for those found guilty of the most serious and heinous
crimes. Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘There’s definitely a place for measures like this, especially for those whose offending is specifically linked to alcohol.
‘But they absolutely cannot be used as an excuse to empty jails as opposed to a targeted and thorough intervention.
‘Victims of crime will be furious if offenders whose crimes are serious enough to warrant prison are instead given these tags.
‘We know the SNP like soft touch initiatives so it has to prove that won’t be the case here.’
The Scottish parliament passed the new Management of Offenders Act last year, which allows for an expansion in the use of electronic monitoring of criminals.
It also made it legal for the first time to use remote monitoring of alcohol consumption as part of community sentences.
A multi-million-pound contract has now been awarded to security services firm G4S to run electronic monitoring operations over the next five years.
This will include the introduction of ‘remote alcohol monitoring’. It is understood the company has begun the process of appointing a subcontractor to provide the socalled sobriety tags.
Under the system, the waterresistant bracelet, which is worn around the ankle, carries out tests every 30 minutes which detect if alcohol has been consumed.
It also includes detectors that send out alerts if the tag is removed or tampered with.
According to official figures, 46 per cent of the 172,000 violent crimes which were committed in Scotland in 2017-18 were alcohol-related.
It means tens of thousands of criminals, including thugs and those guilty of domestic abuse, could potentially be forced to wear sobriety tags as part of their sentence.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: ‘The Management of Offenders Act widens the availability of electronic monitoring and allows for the introduction of other technologies, including remote monitoring of alcohol consumption and GPS.
‘We are discussing with partners how such enhanced monitoring may be used in future when the relevant parts of the Act come into force.’
The Management of Offenders Act, which was given Royal Assent at the end of July last year, provides the legislative basis for enhanced electronic monitoring capabilities including remote substance monitoring. Amit Sethi, head of European relations at SCRAM Systems, which monitors 24,000 people a day across the world using sobriety tags, said: ‘The SCRAM Continuous Alcohol Monitoring tag is a tried, tested and proven device that assists in changing alcohol-related offending behaviour.
‘We are hopeful that we will have the opportunity to assist in addressing the alcohol issue, which costs Scotland £3.6billion a year.’ Following the award of the Scottish Government contract, G4S service director Angela Smith said: ‘This key win reinforces our position as a global market leader in electronic monitoring.
‘Our continued work with the Scottish Government will allow us to introduce our latest developments in technology which will further enhance capabilities available to criminal justice agencies in Scotland.’
‘Tried and tested device’