Alcohol intoxication and violent crime: Implications for public health policy

Despite extensive public health campaigns, the consequences of alcohol into xication continue to be a serious public health concern. Alcohol intoxicati on,Sor example, is a prevalent feature of crime, especially violent crime. Previous studies of alcohol intoxication and violent crime have used sample s of police reports, correctional populations (arrestees, jail detainees, o r convicted offenders), or community surveys. Studies using police reports and correctional populations are biased because Jew police-citizen encounte rs result in police reports or arrest. Community surveys avoid these biases but rely an the subject's assessment of both the victims' and the suspects ' intoxication. We took a different approach and directly observed 2,365 police-citizen enc ounters. Observers used the Alcohol Symptom Checklist to determine the leve l of alcohol intoxication or impairment. We compared the prevalence of susp ects' and victims' alcohol intoxication (equivalent to a blood alcohol leve l [BAL] of .05 or above) by type of encounter and compared odds ratios to a ssess the association between intoxication and type of encounter. We also c ontrolled for demographic characteristics (race,gender, age, and socio-econ omic status) to assess the relationships among perpetration, victimization, and intoxication. Overall, suspects are for more likely than victims to be intoxicated; not surprisingly, suspects irt public order/vandalism encount ers are the most likely to be intoxicated. Alcohol intoxication appears to contribute substantially to violent victimization. The role of alcohol into xication is largest among groups that, if not intoxicated are generally les s vulnerable to violence: whites, males, and persons of higher socio-econom ic status. We discuss the implications of these findings for services and p ublic health policy.