Alcohol, Violence And Coventry

Coventry is in the midst of a near-epidemic of alcohol-related problems. That sounds overly dramatic, but read on.

Two different year-and-a-half stretches of crime was compared for a recent report to the licensing committee of Coventry City Council -- "from 1st October 2005 – 30th September 2006" and "1st October 2006 – 30th September 2007."

Coventry is divided into three police regions (South, North West and North East).

The significant increases were in offences involving alcohol "within a dwelling" in South (28.7%) and North West (13.9%).

The report concludes:

A large number of offences are occurring, if not between partners (domestic violence and abuse) then within groups who know each other and in situations which escalate into crime as a result of excessive alcohol intake.

The Guardian:

Binge drinking is fuelling an epidemic of sexually transmitted infections, as well as high rates of unplanned pregnancies and abortions.

Linda Tucker, one of the main authors and a consultant nurse in sexual health and HIV: "The link between sexual risk and drinking too much alcohol is not the most original idea in the world, but we now have clear, scientific evidence of the relationship ... The government needs to reflect this link in their sexual health and alcohol strategy - which at present seems not to link alcohol and sexual risk behaviour. Politicians need to tackle the issue of cheap booze and to have properly funded early intervention and treatment programmes."

Coventry Telegraph:

A new report outlines the extent to which excessive consumption of booze is affecting local communities. It reveals that 340 people in Coventry claimed incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance in 2006 because of alcohol addiction - the second highest in the region.

The report, Alcohol in the West Midlands 2007, also shows that between 2003 and 2005/6 more than 2,129 children in the region were admitted to hospital for specific alcohol related conditions.

In 2006/7 there were 4,072 crimes in Coventry attributable to alcohol - 2,809 involved violence against a person and 62 of these were sexual offences.

It really does all come back to alcohol. We won't be able to address behind-closed-doors problems with domestic violence and domestic rape -- or city-centre disturbances on Friday and Saturday nights -- unless we look at why people are using alcohol the way they are. It's not about banning it, or raising the drinking age to 21. It's about why are people drinking themselves silly three and four times a week.