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Selected Research about Drugs, Drink and Mental Health
Drugs and Crime
Drug misuse declared: Findings from the British Crime Survey 2006/07 Murphy R & Roe S, Home Office, 2007
The BCS is a survey of about 15,000 householders in England and Wales. It is conducted by the home office every two years. The advantage of the BCS is that it includes crimes that have not been reported to the police.
Copies of the survey can be downloaded from the Home Office website
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb1807.pdf
The Economic Case For and Against Prison
With the current prison population at over 81,000 and with further demand for prison places projected, it is important that decision makers have the most complete picture available to inform spending decisions. However, the debate, whether for or against prison, has historically focused on the moral, political and social arguments for sentencing.
The Economic Case for and against Prison provides decision makers with new evidence on the most effective ways to spend public money. "Economic research of this nature delivers a more complete picture on value for money” Jacque Mallender, CEO of Matrix Knowledge Group, said. The objective of the research is to provide an evidence base that estimates the value for money of different alternatives to prison.
Although a prison sentence can be applied for several reasons, the research focuses on its ability to reduce re-offending. The analysis demonstrates that more effective community based alternatives to prison for reducing re-offending do exist. The research also shows that where prison is necessary (for example in the case of violent offenders), prison sentences accompanied by training and treatment interventions are more effective than prison alone in reducing re-offending. The research also shows that offenders that receive residential drug treatment are 43% less likely to re-offend after release than comparable offenders receiving prison sentences.
Copies of the report are available to download from the Matrix Knowledge Group website
www.matrixknowledge.co.uk/prison-economics
Alcohol and Crime
As well as the harm to an individual’s health, alcohol misuse can also cause great costs to society. In the NHS Information Centre publication "Statistics on Alcohol: England 2007" the “alcohol-related costs” chapter focuses on the affordability and availability of alcohol, the levels of alcohol-related crime and the costs to society of alcohol misuse.
Copies of this publication are available to download from the NHS Information Centre website
www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/alcoholeng2007/statistics on Alcohol-England 2007v6.pdf
Mental Health and Crime
"Courts failing to use option of mental health treatment for offenders outside prison" - says new report
People sentenced to community orders are not getting mental health treatment when they need it, according to research published today by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health.
The Community Order and the Mental Health Treatment Requirement , by Linda Seymour and Max Rutherford, found that less than one per cent of people issued with a community order had a requirement for mental health treatment in their sentence. Of the 120,000 community orders issued in 2006, only 725 included a 'mental health treatment requirement' (MHTR). This compares with over 11,000 for drug treatment, 75,000 for supervision and more than 62,000 for unpaid work.
The report concludes that the barriers to the use of the MHTR are likely to include difficulties assessing a person’s eligibility for mental health treatment, a lack of access to mental health services for offenders living in the community and the need for an offender to consent publicly to treatment for highly stigmatised mental health problems.
Linda Seymour, Sainsbury Centre head of policy, said: “The mental health treatment requirement is clearly not being used fully or consistently. It is estimated that half of people on community orders have at least one mental health problem. Few will be receiving the support they need for those problems. Many more offenders with mental health problems are being imprisoned because judges see no alternative for them in the community
Current Government Action
Mental Health and Offending
The inappropriate imprisonment of the mentally ill was acknowledged in a comprehensive report in 2002 by the Prime Minister’s Social Exclusion Unit which noted that ‘too many people with severe mental illness are in prison rather than secure treatment facilities’ and that this was contributing to overcrowding which, in turn, ‘limits the capacity of prisons, probation and other services to work effectively to reduce re-offending’.
In December 2007, the Government published its response to Baroness Corston’s major review of vulnerable women in the criminal justice system which called for a radical rethink in the use of prison for women. The review states that mentally ill women are being failed “The NHS is failing to provide services for women with mental illnesses who come into the criminal justice system and failing to provide the machinery necessary to divert them into suitable health care on arrest or from court.” Although ministers welcomed nearly all of the review’s recommendations, there is real concern that without dedicated funding and a commission to drive change, this attempt at reform will be no more successful than past efforts.
Also in December 2007, the Government announced it had asked Rt Hon Lord Keith Bradley to review the diversion of offenders with mental health problems or learning disabilities away from prison. Lord Bradley is expected to report his findings in summer 2008.
The Department of Health, the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Children, Schools and Families, are consulting on how to improve their response to mentally ill people who offend. The Government’s future response to this consultation and the implementation of any recommendations will be crucial to the future of those suffering from severe mental illness and their families.
Home Office Drug Strategy
In Feb 2008 the government announced its new ten year drug strategy, for more information go to drugs.homeoffice.gov.uk/drug-strategy/overview
Drugs and Crime
Drug misuse declared: Findings from the British Crime Survey 2006/07 Murphy R & Roe S, Home Office, 2007
The BCS is a survey of about 15,000 householders in England and Wales. It is conducted by the home office every two years. The advantage of the BCS is that it includes crimes that have not been reported to the police.
Copies of the survey can be downloaded from the Home Office website
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb1807.pdf
The Economic Case For and Against Prison
With the current prison population at over 81,000 and with further demand for prison places projected, it is important that decision makers have the most complete picture available to inform spending decisions. However, the debate, whether for or against prison, has historically focused on the moral, political and social arguments for sentencing.
The Economic Case for and against Prison provides decision makers with new evidence on the most effective ways to spend public money. "Economic research of this nature delivers a more complete picture on value for money” Jacque Mallender, CEO of Matrix Knowledge Group, said. The objective of the research is to provide an evidence base that estimates the value for money of different alternatives to prison.
Although a prison sentence can be applied for several reasons, the research focuses on its ability to reduce re-offending. The analysis demonstrates that more effective community based alternatives to prison for reducing re-offending do exist. The research also shows that where prison is necessary (for example in the case of violent offenders), prison sentences accompanied by training and treatment interventions are more effective than prison alone in reducing re-offending. The research also shows that offenders that receive residential drug treatment are 43% less likely to re-offend after release than comparable offenders receiving prison sentences.
Copies of the report are available to download from the Matrix Knowledge Group website
www.matrixknowledge.co.uk/prison-economics
Alcohol and Crime
As well as the harm to an individual’s health, alcohol misuse can also cause great costs to society. In the NHS Information Centre publication "Statistics on Alcohol: England 2007" the “alcohol-related costs” chapter focuses on the affordability and availability of alcohol, the levels of alcohol-related crime and the costs to society of alcohol misuse.
Copies of this publication are available to download from the NHS Information Centre website
www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/alcoholeng2007/statistics on Alcohol-England 2007v6.pdf
Mental Health and Crime
"Courts failing to use option of mental health treatment for offenders outside prison" - says new report
People sentenced to community orders are not getting mental health treatment when they need it, according to research published today by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health.
The Community Order and the Mental Health Treatment Requirement , by Linda Seymour and Max Rutherford, found that less than one per cent of people issued with a community order had a requirement for mental health treatment in their sentence. Of the 120,000 community orders issued in 2006, only 725 included a 'mental health treatment requirement' (MHTR). This compares with over 11,000 for drug treatment, 75,000 for supervision and more than 62,000 for unpaid work.
The report concludes that the barriers to the use of the MHTR are likely to include difficulties assessing a person’s eligibility for mental health treatment, a lack of access to mental health services for offenders living in the community and the need for an offender to consent publicly to treatment for highly stigmatised mental health problems.
Linda Seymour, Sainsbury Centre head of policy, said: “The mental health treatment requirement is clearly not being used fully or consistently. It is estimated that half of people on community orders have at least one mental health problem. Few will be receiving the support they need for those problems. Many more offenders with mental health problems are being imprisoned because judges see no alternative for them in the community
Current Government Action
Mental Health and Offending
The inappropriate imprisonment of the mentally ill was acknowledged in a comprehensive report in 2002 by the Prime Minister’s Social Exclusion Unit which noted that ‘too many people with severe mental illness are in prison rather than secure treatment facilities’ and that this was contributing to overcrowding which, in turn, ‘limits the capacity of prisons, probation and other services to work effectively to reduce re-offending’.
In December 2007, the Government published its response to Baroness Corston’s major review of vulnerable women in the criminal justice system which called for a radical rethink in the use of prison for women. The review states that mentally ill women are being failed “The NHS is failing to provide services for women with mental illnesses who come into the criminal justice system and failing to provide the machinery necessary to divert them into suitable health care on arrest or from court.” Although ministers welcomed nearly all of the review’s recommendations, there is real concern that without dedicated funding and a commission to drive change, this attempt at reform will be no more successful than past efforts.
Also in December 2007, the Government announced it had asked Rt Hon Lord Keith Bradley to review the diversion of offenders with mental health problems or learning disabilities away from prison. Lord Bradley is expected to report his findings in summer 2008.
The Department of Health, the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Children, Schools and Families, are consulting on how to improve their response to mentally ill people who offend. The Government’s future response to this consultation and the implementation of any recommendations will be crucial to the future of those suffering from severe mental illness and their families.
Home Office Drug Strategy
In Feb 2008 the government announced its new ten year drug strategy, for more information go to drugs.homeoffice.gov.uk/drug-strategy/overview
