Alcohol Concern Briefing on Anti Social Behaviour and Alcohol

Autumn 2003

Alcohol related anti social behaviour is identified by the public as being one of their main concerns.

1 in 4 people say that drunk and rowdy behaviour is a problem in their neighbourhood


7 in 10 say drinking in public places or on the street is a problem in their area


Concern is greater in inner city or urban areas than rural ones.


Under 18s are seen as the biggest problem by 57% of the public, followed by young adults (over 18’s) on 28%. This is followed by the “Friday and Saturday night” drinkers identified by 25% of respondents and finally street drinkers.

Alcohol is also linked with a broad range of anti social behaviours for a number of reasons:

Norms of drunken behaviour differ from standards of behaviour that are expected when sober. Noisy, jubilant or rowdy behaviour may be expected, aggressive or out of character behaviour may be tolerated.


Expectations about the effect that alcohol has on behaviour also plays a key role and drunkenness is often used as an excuse (SU analysis)


60% of binge drinkers admitted involvement in criminal or disorderly behaviour after drinking compared with 25% of regular drinkers

Drinking is more closely associated with violent crime than with acquisitive crime. This is because alcohol impairs cognitive skills meaning that people may misread social cues, take bad judgements about risk or respond inappropriately in social situations. They may also respond aggressively when they believe they are being provoked

What action is the Government taking on this?

The Anti-Social Behaviour Unit was set up in December 2002 to work across the Government, with the police and local authorities to tackle this issue and an additional 75 million directed into this priority over three years.

1.Home Office 2003 Findings 185 “Drinking Crime and Disorder”

The Government definition of anti social behaviour encompasses a wide range of behaviour from “noisy neighbours” and drunken yobs in town centres through to “Crack houses” and nuisance neighbours.

Tackling Anti Social behaviour is currently one of the government’s key priorities and a key area of public concern with 1 in 3 saying it is a problem in their area. It is also an area of increasing public concern with more respondents highlighting it in 2003 than in the 2001 British Crime Survey

Recent investigations into the development of the late night economy in the UK has also highlighted the impact of alcohol related anti social behaviour on local communities. The dominant role played by alcohol in many late night activities, combined with our binge drinking culture means that many of our town and city centres are a no go area for families and older people because of the anti social behaviour and disorder which is happens as a result.

For further information on any of these issues please contact

Geethika Jayatilaka Director of Policy and Public Affairs on

Alcohol Concern

Alcohol Concern is the national agency on alcohol misuse, working to reduce the level of alcohol misuse and to develop the range and quality of helping services available for problem drinkers and their families.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Bill was introduced on 27 March 2002. Key measures include:

Widening the use of Fixed Penalty Notices


Restricting the use of air weapons and replica guns


Widening powers to shut down licensed premises that create noise nuisance for up to 24 hours


Courts to consider the impact of anti social behaviour on the wider community in all housing possession cases


Extends penalty notice scheme to 16 and 17 year olds with an option to extend it to all juveniles over 10

Anti Social Behaviour Action Plan was launched in October 2003, Together is a national campaign which aims to improve responses to anti social behaviour from involved agencies, it includes new initiatives in 10 trailblazer authorities and research and funding into impacts on victims and witnesses.

Licensing Act allows police new powers to shut disorderly premises for up to 24 hours where there is either actual or likely disorder or to prevent a public nuisance, owing to the noise emanating from the premises. The Act also allows police to confiscate all alcohol whether in sealed or open containers from young people drinking in public places.

There have also been a number of developed aimed at this area including:

Fixed Fine Penalty Notices (FPNs)

FPNs were introduced in 2001 and have been piloted in 4 local areas with the aim of tackling disorderly behaviour in public. There are plans to extend these as they have been judged to be successful with a 60% rate of payment within 21 days and only 2% ending up in court.

Anti Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs)

Anti Social Behaviour Orders are statutory measures which contain conditions preventing the offender from specific anti social acts or entering defined areas and is effective for a minimum of two years.

Underage drinking is one form of behaviour which can be tackled with the use of an anti social behaviour order as outlined in the guide issued in November 2002. Individual support orders may include attending treatment for substance misuse as part of the conditions

Acceptable Behaviour Contracts(ABCs)

ABCs are a voluntary written agreement between a person who has been involved in anti social behaviour and one or more local agencies whose role it is to prevent such behaviour. They are most commonly used for young people but may also be used for adults.

Alcohol Concern Analysis

Alcohol Concern has welcomed the new attention being paid to this issue. We have been highlighting for many years that a large proportion of violent crime occurs between 9pm and 3am over the weekend period within or directly outside licensed premises with similar patterns being seen for disorderly behaviour.

However we are concerned that much of the media coverage and government attention has been focused on a very young age group The problems surrounding alcohol related disorder extend much further up the age range with binge drinking most common amongst the 16-24 age group & many of whom will use pubs and bars in town and city centres rather than solely groups of young people congregating in public spaces.

We believe that the new Anti-Social Behaviour Action plan should recognise this in it’s priorities & at present alcohol related anti social behaviour is considered either in relation to the issues outlined above or in relation to exclusion zones for alcohol consumption in public aimed at tackling street drinking. We believe a wider perspective on this issue is vital.

In addition to effective enforcement we believe it is important to offer support and help to those with alcohol problems and would like to see further use of effective arrest referral schemes which offers those with alcohol problems who come into contact with the criminal justice system access to treatment services.