ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed the House of Commons Justice Committee’s recommendation to the Sentencing Council to not include the number of entries in a refusals book as a culpability factor in sentencing for alcohol offences.
In a submission to the consultation in August, ACS raised concerns about the proposed factors that would affect sentencing, such as the number of entries in a refusals register and the volume of alcohol being sold in a transaction. The submission contested that in many cases, few entries in a refusals register means that the store has had a robust age verification procedure in place for a long period of time, resulting in fewer attempts by those underage to purchase alcohol.
Acknowledging ACS’ submission, the Justice Committee’s report on the proposal to include few entries in a refusals book as a factor notes that “responses to this proposal have been generally negative. In particular some respondents questioned whether this would be prejudicial to organisations who have a low turnover of alcohol sales, or who are known to have robust policies in place.”
The report continues: “We are not convinced a local licensing authority will necessarily have enough information about premises to make an informed determination of whether the number of entries in the refusal log should lead to heightened or lowered culpability. We recommend the Sentencing Council removes this as a factor for both higher and lower culpability.”
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “Alcohol is an important category for the convenience sector and retailers take their responsibilities in preventing the sale of alcohol to those underage or intoxicated very seriously. We are pleased that the Justice Committee have listened to our concerns on the inclusion of refusals logs as a culpability factor, and will continue to work with the Sentencing Council to ensure that sentencing for alcohol offences is fair and proportionate.”
The full Justice Committee report is available here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmjust/646/646.pdf
