Guide: Making Sense of Crime
This guide looks at some of the key things we do know about crime and why it has been so difficult to make sense of crime policy. [...]
The Mail Online ran a piece on alcohol and violent crime on 12th February. In the article Andrew Brown, Director of policy at the charity DrugScope was quoted as saying “every £1 invested in alcohol treatment saves £5 in health, care and criminal justice costs.” With the Mail article so strongly linking alcohol to violent crime, Mr Brown’s claim would seem to show a useful step forward in public policy. So we decided to ask Mr Brown for evidence behind this statement to see if it was backed up by anything or was just the position of the charity.
Mr Brown tweeted a reply 8 minutes after we had tweeted about the Ask for Evidence. He pointed us to a peer reviewed study, published in the BMJ: UKATT Research Team (2005) BMJ, 544. The study looks to be a well-conducted assessment of two alcohol treatment trials. The study acknowledges its limitations but its results appear sound. Its conclusions support the statement made by Mr Brown: “Both therapies saved about five times as much in expenditure on health, social, and criminal justice services as they cost.”
What’s the evidence behind @AndrewBrown365 @drugscope’s claim: £1 on treatment saves NHS & MOJ £5? http://t.co/aWPkiP91cq #AskforEvidence
— Evidence Matters (@evimatters) February 13, 2015
@evimatters @DrugScope @Alex_babbler the evidence we're using comes from http://t.co/ytKJvD9oj5 hope that helps.
— Andrew Brown (@andrewbrown365) February 13, 2015
@andrewbrown365 @evimatters @DrugScope Brilliant. Thanks for the super fast reply!
— Alex Thompson (@Alex_babbler) February 13, 2015
@Alex_babbler @evimatters not at all we like to think of ourselves as an evidence based org here at @DrugScope http://t.co/hoZKGhPfWj
— Andrew Brown (@andrewbrown365) February 13, 2015
Subsequent to the response on twitter, he sent a link to an NHS review. The review looks at the effectiveness of treatment for alcohol problems, and includes an evaluation of the BMJ study previously sent. Again, this report backs up the statements made by DrugScope.
We’d like to congratulate Andrew Brown and DrugScope on being so forthcoming and prompt in their response to an Ask for Evidence.
Image by Evil Sivan (CC BY-NC 2.0)
This guide looks at some of the key things we do know about crime and why it has been so difficult to make sense of crime policy. [...]
I live in Belgium, and recently read that the Flemish Parliament was debating new EU rules restricting children’s use of social media by introducing a digital ‘age of consent'. As [...]
The team at GOV.UK want to know how they can better serve people who are attempting to hold the government to account, and understand the reasoning behind government decisions. Whilst you [...]
EU policy is made within the Brussels bubble, with Brussels-based think tanks and Brussels-based lobbyists. Even civil society organisations at EU level rarely speak to the people that they represent. [...]
When Nick, a former driving instructor, saw the road safety charity Brake tweet ... It's estimated that every 1mph reduction in average speeds, crash rates fall by an average of [...]
After reading an article stating that people receiving Universal Credit were “5 percent more likely to find employment within four months when compared to people claiming Jobseekers Allowance” I chose [...]