Scotland launches 10-year plan to tackle alcohol-related violence

Published: 23 July, 2008

Scotland has launched a 10-year plan to combat crime related to its hardman' culture.

Speaking at the launch of the plan in Glasgow, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said the plan would be achieved by a combination of police enforcement and education.

The framework, produced by the police-led Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), aims to change attitudes and cut violence-related crime within the decade.

The 12-page document includes targets on tackling youth gangs and alcohol-related violence, with the hope of delivering a permanent reduction in violence.

MacAskill said: "In Scotland, there's tragically been a view that we can drink every nation under the table and, somehow or other, we think that we can take them on single-handedly thereafter.

"The veneration of the 'hardman' image in Scotland has got to stop. There are loads of things that we can be proud of in Scotland, and it should not be that."

Boys and young men in Scotland aged 10-29 are five times more likely to suffer violent death than those in England and Wales, according to VRU head detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, of Strathclyde.

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