Friday, July 20, 2007
LATE NIGHT ECONOMY
All-night drinking law fuelling rise in street violence and disorder
More than one million people were attacked by drunken thugs last year as the first official analysis of round-the-clock drinking revealed increasing public disorder in the early hours.
Alcohol-fuelled violence rose in the first full year of relaxed licensing laws, with a particular jump in the hours after midnight as clubs and pubs stayed open later.
While crime fell around the traditional 11pm closing time, the British Crime Survey figures indicate that longer licensing hours simply shifted the disorder to the early morning.
When the law was changed the Government suggested that ending the 11pm closing time would result in less violence as people would leave bars at different times. But police have had to deploy more officers to cope with the thousands drinking in town centres after midnight.
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