Services that Manage the Care Needs of Drunk - Scottish Government

1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 This report is a review of the worldwide literature on services that exist to
manage the care needs of drunk and incapable people. This review was
undertaken as part of a larger research study commissioned by the Scottish
Government and being carried out by Griesbach & Associates. The overall
study will attempt to answer four questions:
1. What do these services look like — in Scotland and elsewhere?
2. What is considered to be good practice in providing for the needs of drunk
and incapable people in Scotland and elsewhere?
3. What need is there for services for drunk and incapable people in Scotland?
4. What are the best options for providing such services?
1.2 This report partly addresses the first two of these questions. The aims of this
review were:
• To identify services that exist in other countries (outside of Scotland) to
manage the needs of drunk and incapable people and
• To identify good practice in providing these services.
1.3 It should be noted that no literature was identified concerning services in
Scotland. However, information about current services in Scotland is being
collected as part of the larger research study, and was included in the final
report of the study.
1.4 The main focus of this report is on “sobering-up services” – services which
provide an overnight place of safety for people who are identified as
intoxicated (either with alcohol or drugs) in a public place, and who are
incapable of looking after themselves because of their intoxication. In
Scotland, these types of services are often referred to as “designated places”.
(In this report, the term “sobering-up services” will be used in preference to the
term “designated places” as it more clearly describes the purpose of these
services.)
1.5 So-called “designated places” were introduced in Scotland under section 5 of
the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980. This legislation was part of a wider
policy that decriminalised public drunkenness, following a growing awareness
of a futile cycle of individuals being arrested for public intoxication, tried, fined
and then sent to prison for non-payment of fines. The legislation provided for
“designated places” where the police could take intoxicated people to sober up
– thus diverting them from police custody.
1.6 In practice, the police are still charging people with the offence of being drunk
and incapable under section 50(1) of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act
1982. This allows the police to arrest drunk and incapable people if they do
not have a responsible person to take care of them.
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