I have long advocated for the introduction of more creative penalties for drink and drug driving offences. Penalties that go to the heart of the cause of the offence being committed and better education about alcohol and its interaction with the body.
On 19th May 2020, ‘sobriety tags’ came into force, following a pilot of the new Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement (AAMR). The AAMR aims to monitor the alcohol intake of offenders convicted of alcohol-related offences, including drink driving offences. National rollout of the tags has begun and we have seen the first few AAMR’s being imposed for drink driving.
So, what are they?
S76 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 inserts a new section, s212A, into the Criminal Justice Act 2003, giving courts the power to impose an AAMR as a requirement of a community order or a suspended sentence1.
Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirements are a new form of community order which the courts can order as punishment for a convicted offender of an alcohol-related offence, including those convicted of drink driving offences. The court must be satisfied that the offence involved the consumption of alcohol, or that alcohol contributed to the commission of the offence, or associated offence. The offender must not be dependent on alcohol to be fitted with an AAMR.
When the courts order an AAMR the offender will be monitored by a tag, similar to electronic tags used for the purpose of a curfew. The AAMR will be fitted by a monitoring agency and the court will order the period for which the tag will be imposed, up to a maximum of 120 days.
AAMR tags perform 24-hour, daily monitoring of an offender’s sweat, which will detect whether alcohol has been consumed. The AAMR’s imposed will either require an offender to abstain from consuming alcohol during the period of the AAMR or to not consume alcohol over a specified, court-set quantity of alcohol.
The AAMR tags have a very clever design that can distinguish between alcohol and alcohol-based products, essential with the nation’s post-Covid, increased hand sanitiser use. It also recognises when the tag has contact with the skin and notices when this contact has been blocked.
What Happens If The Offender Breaches The Requirement?
If the offender does drink alcohol or exceeds the restricted quantity of alcohol ordered, and alcohol is detected by the device, the offender can be asked to return to court for further sanctions to be ordered. Further sanctions can include things such as fines and extending the length of the AAMR.
Are they successful?
Before being available for the courts to impose, AAMR’s were trialled in pilots across the UK. The pilots saw high compliance with the AAMR; 94% completed the requirement and the offenders were overall alcohol-free for over 97% of monitored days2.
What do we think?
The aims of AAMR’s are to prevent offenders from drinking alcohol, as a punishment for their alcohol-related offending. They also aim to rehabilitate offenders through addressing and changing their alcohol-related behaviour(s). Not only do the tags aim to have a positive impact on the offender’s life, their wellbeing and behaviour, they can also have positive impact on their family, community and others around them. It is hoped that alcohol-related crime, including violent and domestic crime, will be reduced as the tags are rolled out and become more standard. This is because not only do the tags have a deterrent effect, they also aim to address the alcohol-related behaviour, to prevent such from reoccurring in the future. This will further help to reduce the number of victims of alcohol-related crime.
An alcohol treatment requirement will remain the principal means of addressing alcohol addiction issues, but so far, AAMR’s seem to be a very good alternative for those who are not dependant on alcohol.
A final thought…
AAMR’s have only recently become readily available, but it will be interesting to see whether they become more popular for the courts to use, over the coming months and years. It will also be interesting to see what impact they will have on our clients. Only time will tell.
[1] https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/pronouncement-cards/card/community-order-requirements-alcohol-abstinence-exclusion-and-attendance-monitoring/
[2] https://www.humberside-pcc.gov.uk/Document-Library/Process-Evaluation-Year-2-Interim-Report-Final.pdf
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