Drop in binge drinking leads to 10% fewer injuries due to serious violence
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Version 0 of 1. A sharp decline in binge drinking has led to a 10% fall in the number of people injured in serious violence, according to a new study of hospital data. The annual survey, by Cardiff University’s violence research group, found a particularly marked drop of 18% in violent attacks against children and teenagers. Prof Jonathan Shepherd said the figures were part of a longer term trend that has seen more than 30% fewer people needing treatment in accident and emergency departments since 2010. A number of reasons are cited for the decline in serious violence, but the fall in drinking, especially binge drinking, among 16- to 24-year-olds is seen as a key factor in reducing violent incidents – particularly on urban streets at night. The study says the proportion of teenagers and young adults drinking on five or more days a week has more than halved since 2005. Binge drinking – which is defined as more than eight units for men and six units for women - has gone down by nearly a third to 18% among this age group over the same period. The researchers describe drinking as “a powerful driver of both violence-related injury and violent offending”. They said changes in the labour market and the decline in the affordability of alcohol over the past five years had underpinned the fall in violent crime. It means people are cutting back on drinking because they have less money and alcohol has become more expensive. Shepherd, the lead author of the study, warned that this progress could be put at risk by a combination of the economic recovery – which could make alcohol more affordable for young people – and a further round of austerity cuts that could curtail spending on CCTV and police resources. He said: “We think if funding was taken out of CCTV in public places, together with cost cutting in the police partnerships – taking police analysts out because they are seen as backroom facilities rather than frontline – together with steps in the economy which make alcohol more affordable, [we] would run the risk of violence increasing again.” The researchers said other factors contributing to the decline include better street lighting, more widespread CCTV – which enables the police to intervene – and the increasing use of plastic glasses in pubs. Shepherd, who pointed out that alcohol sold cheaply in supermarkets remained a problem, said: “I think we are becoming a more empathetic society with better connectivity with social media.” He said the fall in violence against children under 10 mainly concerned a decline in incidents in the street or at school rather than of domestic abuse. However, he said work to improve child safeguarding in the wake of the Baby P case had contributed to the decrease. The study found that 211,514 people attended hospital A&E departments, minor injury units and walk-in centres in England and Wales for treatment after violent attacks in 2014. This was 22,995 fewer than in 2013. The survey is based on data from 117 emergency departments, minor injury units and walk-in centres who are members of the national violence surveillance network. This is the 15th year in which it has been undertaken. Shepherd said the greatest savings to society, especially for hard-pressed A&E departments, came in the fall in violent incidents at the weekend involving men aged 18 to 30. He said: “This is where we get the biggest benefit really, in terms of numbers.” The results confirmed that recent increases in serious violence in police recorded crime figures were the result of changes in recording practices rather than demonstrative of real increases in violence. |