40,000 child alcohol crimes in five years

Shocking stats that nearly 40,000 children have been fined, cautioned, or taken to court for alcohol-related offences in the last five years.
That's nearly one every hour!

The number has increased by over a quarter in that period, according to research by the Lib Dems.
The key points are:
* 39,714 children aged under 18 were fined, cautioned or taken to court for alcohol related offences between 2003 and 2007
* This includes 124 children aged 10-12 and 6,111 aged 13-15
* The number of under-18s fined, cautioned or taken to court for alcohol related offences has increased by 28%, 8,686 in 2007

Lib Dem Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said that this is a "shocking picture of how many children are being dragged into the criminal justice system through alcohol abuse".

As I have said before on this blog, we must stop alcohol being sold at pocket-money prices and start educating our children about the dangers of drink or these figures will continue to worsen.

Unless we change our drinking culture, we will condemn many of these children and adolescents to serious long-term alcohol-related illnesses or a life of crime.

Pocket-money price of alcohol has devastating impact

Almost 10,000 people could die every year because of their drinking. Research from the University of the West of England shows that 90,800 people could die avoidable deaths from alcohol-related causes in the next decade if we continue to drink at the average rate of the past 15 years.
The research maps the whole population’s level of drinking with the number of deaths from alcohol-related causes.
The new findings also show there has been a TREBLING of deaths from 3,054 in 1984 to 8,999 in 2008, as consumption has increased over the past 25 years.

The numbers include diseases directly caused by alcohol and alcohol poisoning, and DO NOT INCLUDE DEATHS CAUSED INDIRECTLY BY ALCOHOL, such as those from drink-driving or cancers which have been caused in part by drinking.
Prof. Martin Plant has said that the UK has experienced "an epidemic of alcohol-related health and social problems" and he recommends "introducing a minimum unit price of 50p" which would cut alcohol-related hospital admissions, crimes, and absence days from work.
These chilling figures are a stark reminder of the shocking death toll caused by excess alcohol consumption.
The Government’s failure to invest in alcohol treatment services and their refusal to stop alcohol being sold at pocket-money prices is having a devastating impact on our health.

The high cost of cheap alcohol is becoming clearer every day.
The Government must heed the advice of its own experts and introduce a minimum price for alcohol, otherwise the death toll will continue to rise and the NHS will be forced to pick up the bill.