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Violence and crime

On this page

  • Facts and stats
  • Briefings
  • Reports
  • Blogs
  • Podcasts
  • Videos

Alcohol is seen as a significant contributory factor in many kinds of crime in Britain today – it is associated with over 4 million crimes in the UK each year, including 500,000 violent crimes. Indeed, research has highlighted the role alcohol can play in domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and violent crime including murder.

It is estimated to cost £14.58 billion in England alone, including costs to the police and criminal justice system, cost of stolen or damaged property, and money spent on crime detection and prevention.

Alcohol also places a significant burden on the emergency services – three quarters of police and half of ambulance respondents have been injured in alcohol-related incidents.

There has been a decline in the volume of alcohol-related violence reported to the Crime Survey for England and Wales in recent years, alongside a broader decline in violence overall. However, two-fifths of the violent incidents captured in the survey are reported as alcohol-related. 

A number of drivers of alcohol-related crime identified include price, the density and types of premises selling alcohol (also referred to as its physical availability), and extended drinking hours (also referred to as its temporal availability). Policies aiming to address these drivers exist at both a national and local level in the UK – for example, licensing regulation placing controls on where, when, and how alcohol can be sold. Research suggests Minimum Unit Pricing also presents an effective policy option.

Facts and stats

  • In 2022/23, 38% of all violent crimes occurred where the victim believed the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol (ONS, 2024, Table 9a).
  • People from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to be victims of alcohol-related violence. They also experience alcohol-related anti-social behaviour more frequently than those in higher socioeconomic groups (Bryant, L. 2020).

How much crime is alcohol-related in England and Wales? by The Institute of Alcohol Studies

  • In 2022/23, 38% of domestic violence incidents occurred when the victim believed the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

How much domestic violence is alcohol-related in England and Wales? by The Institute of Alcohol Studies

  • The proportion of violent crimes involving offenders under the influence of alcohol has fallen from just over 3 in 5 in 2008/09 to around 2 in 5 in 2019/20

How much crime is alcohol-related in Scotland? by The Institute of Alcohol Studies

  • Survey data is unavailable. However, police data suggests the following:
  • Between 2012/13 and 2021/22, around one in five crimes recorded by the police have been flagged with an alcohol motivation.
  • There were 23,046 of such offences in 2021/22
  • Sexual offences with an alcohol motivation represented 14.3% of all sexual offences in 2020/21
  • Around half of all violence with injury offences and two fifths of violence without injury offences have been given an alcohol motivation. (PSNI, 2022)
  • When on-trade outlets were closed during the pandemic, there was only a very small decrease in the proportion of violence that was alcohol-related – 15.5% to 12.8% (Lightowlers and Bryant 2023).
  • Closures did not lead to significant differences in the level or proportion of domestic violence flagged as alcohol-related.
  • This suggests that the impact of alcohol sold in off-trade sites – not only on-trade – ought to be considered as a component of efforts to reduce violence.
  • England and Wales: 13,000 Penalty Notices for Disorder (PND) were issued in relation to non-notifiable offences for the year ending September 2017, the majority of which related to drunk and disorderly behaviour. (ONS, 2018)
  • Scotland: Consuming alcohol in a public place was the third most commonly issued Anti-Social Behaviour Fixed Penalty Notice (ASBPN) in 2017/18, making up 1/5 of all notices given. (Scot Gov, 2019)
  • Northern Ireland: Data is not held for exactly how many PNDs issued are related to alcohol, although there is one offence referring specifically to alcohol related behaviour – ‘simple drunk’ – for which 41 PNDs were issued in 2016.
  • A survey examining the North West of England found that:
    • 43% of respondents felt annoyed by people vomiting or urinating in the street after drinking
    • 49.4% were kept awake by drunken noise
  • Over 1 in 10 perceive people being drunk or rowdy in their area to be a very or fairly big problem. (ONS, 2023)
  • Alcohol is the second most commonly identified major cause of crime in Northern Ireland

What are the public’s perceptions of alcohol-related crime in Northern Ireland? by The Institute of Alcohol Studies

Briefings

Alcohol-related crime reporting – what do we know?

Alcohol, the emergency services and the criminal justice system

Crime and disorder in the night time economy

Domestic abuse, sexual assault, and child abuse

Driving factors of alcohol-related crime

Reports

Off-trade alcohol availability and violence: assessing the impact of on-trade outlet closures

August 2023

IAS response to consultation on Northern Ireland Domestic and Sexual Abuse Strategy

May 2023

Patterns in alcohol-related violence: exploring recent declines in alcohol-related violence in England and Wales

February 2023

IAS response to consultation on Late Night Levy Fees

February 2023

IAS response to consultation on the Redesign of the Crime Survey for England and Wales

August 2022

IAS Annual Report 2021/22

May 2022

IAS response to consultation on the refresh of the violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence National Strategy, Wales

February 2022

IAS response to consultation on new duties on local authorities to provide domestic abuse support in safe accommodation in England

July 2021

Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy Institute of Alcohol Studies Submission

February 2021

Joint Briefing on the Domestic Abuse Bill 2019-21

January 2021

Inequalities in victimisation: alcohol, violence, and anti-social behaviour

May 2020

IAS response to Violence and abuse toward shop staff consultation

July 2019

IAS response to Home Affairs Committee serious violence inquiry

July 2019

IAS response to Consultation on a new legal duty to support a multi-agency approach to preventing and tackling serious violence

May 2019

IAS response to Home Affairs Select Committee Domestic Abuse Inquiry

July 2018

IAS response to Sexual harassment of women and girls in public places

July 2018

IAS response to transforming the response to domestic abuse consultation

May 2018

Alcohol, domestic abuse and sexual assault

September 2014

Crime and disorder, binge drinking and the Licensing Act 2003

March 2005 (2nd ed. November 2008)

Blogs

12143Gone but not forgotten: Why was the Northern Territory’s Minimum Unit Price removed?

Gone but not forgotten: Why was the Northern Territory’s Minimum Unit Price removed?

Dr Nic Taylor and Dr Cassandra Wright

1st April 2025

12018Do alcohol ‘sobriety tags’ reduce reoffending?

Do alcohol ‘sobriety tags’ reduce reoffending?

Dr Carly Lightowlers

21st January 2025

11707Alcohol and Homicide: A Sobering Look at Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean

Alcohol and Homicide: A Sobering Look at Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean

Guillermo Jesús Escaño and Dr William Alex Pridemore

24th September 2024

11695Can alcohol control policies reduce family and domestic violence?

Can alcohol control policies reduce family and domestic violence?

Michala Kowalski

17th September 2024

11634Limits on bar/tavern hours of sale: an important tool in a violence prevention toolbox?

Limits on bar/tavern hours of sale: an important tool in a violence prevention toolbox?

Dr Erika Rosen and Dr Pamela Trangenstein

13th August 2024

10285Isolating and Examining Off-Trade Availability and Violence

Isolating and Examining Off-Trade Availability and Violence

Dr Carly Lightowlers and Dr Lucy Bryant

18th September 2023

10120Can alcohol duties be used to reduce the rate of violence injury?

Can alcohol duties be used to reduce the rate of violence injury?

Professor Kent Matthews

20th June 2023

8848Patterns in alcohol-related violence: exploring recent declines in alcohol-related violence in England and Wales

Patterns in alcohol-related violence: exploring recent declines in alcohol-related violence in England and Wales

Lucy Bryant

27th February 2023

Podcasts

The efficacy of ‘sobriety tagging’

We spoke to Dr Carly Lightowlers about the roll-out of so-called ‘sobriety tags’, why they are being rolled out, and […]

Dr Carly Lightowlers – University of Liverpool

November 2021

Alcohol-related violence and deprivation

Joining us is Dr Carly Lightowlers, who shares her research findings which suggest that those in the lowest socioeconomic groups […]

Dr Carly Lightowlers – University of Liverpool

March 2021

Alcohol and air travel

In this episode, actor Ally Murphy talks about the difficulties of dealing with the behaviour of intoxicated passengers in her […]

Ally Murphy – Former cabin service supervisor

August 2018

Videos

Alcohol-related violence, anti-social behaviour and deprivation – presentation

July 2021

Alcohol and inequalities in victimisation

May 2020

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