Criminal Justice Settings

Alcohol is estimated to cost to the criminal justice system $2,958 billion per year, with much of this cost incurred by policing (38%) and prisons (21%). Alcohol use concerns are highly prevalent in prison settings, with 58% of Australian prisoners reporting high risk drinking. Alcohol Use Disorders are highly prevalent, experienced by approximately 24% of prisoners worldwide.  

Most brief intervention studies conducted in criminal justice settings have focused on prisons, with a small number of trials in policy custody and probation settings. In instances where brief interventions were found to be more effective than control conditions, they were conducted with female only samples in prisons, with moderate evidence for short term reductions in alcohol use. No other differences in the alcohol use outcomes of brief interventions versus control conditions were found; however, they may reduce reoffending.