Legal advice: Alcohol related crime statistics

JUST WHEN the trade thought that the Daily Mail had the monopoly on binge-drinking scare stories, on July 20 The Times published an article with the headline, 'All-night drinking law fuelling rise in street violence and disorder'.

Ignoring the provocative (and incorrect) reference to 'all-night drinking', what is the rise being trumpeted?

Well, according to 30 police forces in England and Wales, there were 940,522 serious violent crimes, woundings, assaults and incidents of harassment and criminal damage occurring between 6pm and 6am in the year after the changes to the licensing laws.

A worryingly high figure you might think? Well it might be, but there were only 7,000 such incidents more than during the previous year - amounting to an increase of less than one per cent! So does this small increase warrant the banner headline? The article makes much of the fact that the number of crimes committed between 3am and 5.59am grew by 22 per cent - as a result of the later opening hours according to The Times.

However, the proportion of crimes committed during these times is only six per cent of the 24-hour total. This means that, while the percentage increase may be significant, the increase in the actual number of crimes is relatively small.

What is more, the number of crimes committed around the traditional 'chucking out' time of 11.20pm. has fallen by one per cent of a very much bigger number.

So when reading press articles remember what a wise man once said: 'There are lies, damned lies and statistics!'

Edited by Joelson Wilson & Co. Joelson Wilson & Co specialise in all aspects of legal work covering liquor, entertainment, betting and gaming. The firm also offers advice on litigious matters, acquisitions and disposals and management agreements. The views expressed are given without any assumption of responsibility.