Alcoholism and the Consequences

I turn on the television and encounter a breaking news. A car collision occurred last night
on the freeway and the findings confirmed that one of the drivers was "under the influence."
What a tragedy for both lives, but disappointing for the one who chose to drink and drive. The
next day, another breaking news involved a violent rape where a Breathalyzer Test revealed that
the offender was drunk while committing the crime. The offender was sentenced several years in
prison. On my way back home the following day, I listened on the radio on a violent brawl that
happened between a father and a son. The son had several bruises on his face and the father
admitted that he was drinking before the incident. He was then arrested for domestic violence
and served several months in jail.
These sorts of crimes involving alcohol consumption happen frequently throughout the
country. Alcohol is a major cause for many of the arrests on these criminals. But are jail terms
and fines really the only solution for these sorts of crime? These penalties seem quite harsh for
these criminals, especially for first-time offenders. For that reason, I believe that alcoholic
criminals deserve medical treatment instead of punishment only if they are coping with alcohol
addiction. Punishment isn't necessarily going to resolve their addictions since they might not
have committed these crimes on purpose. Their addictions are caused mainly from peer
influences and the alcoholic effects on their minds.
There are many more alcohol-related crimes than the ones I previously mentioned. The
NCADD (National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence) website compiled a list of
actual findings on other common alcohol-related crimes in the following table:






Alcohol is clearly a big contributor to the crimes mentioned in the table. But of course, all
offenses related to alcoholism shall deserve either treatment or punishment, depending on the
crime. For instance, crimes like rapes, sexual assault, DUI, or physical assaults have a story
behind these causes, which is alcoholism. These crimes could never have happened if it hadnt
been for the alcoholic influences. In that case, treatment should be favored to cope with their
alcohol addictions. On the other hand, crimes like selling/distributing alcohol to other people,
allowing minors to drink or underage drinking have nothing to do with alcohol addiction. In that
case, these criminals would intentionally commit these crimes without being under the alcoholic
influence, so no treatment is necessary and so punishment should be served. I think it would be
fair that only crimes involving alcohol addiction shall deserve treatment instead of punishment.
Some of the reasons why alcohol is so addicting can be understood by knowing what it
does to the brain. According to What Alcohol Really Does to Your Brain, Alcohol directly
affects brain chemistry by altering levels of neurotransmitters the chemical messengers that
transmit the signals throughout the body that control thought processes, behavior and emotion.
Alcohol affects both excitatory neurotransmitters and inhibitory neurotransmitters.
(DiSalvo). The excitatory neurotransmitters are responsible for increasing brain activity and
Based on victim reports, alcohol use by the offender was a factor in:
37% of rapes and sexual assaults
15% of robberies
27% of aggravated assaults, and
25% of simple assaults
Figure 1. This table includes the following statistics of alcohol-related crimes from the
NCAAD. Alcoholism can contribute to all sorts of crime.
energy levels, while the inhibitory neurotransmitters do the opposite. Alcohol consumption is
found to increase the inhibitory neurotransmitters and decrease the excitatory neurotransmitters,
which would impede ones thinking, speech and movements due to reduced brain activity.
Another factor that makes alcohol so addicting is the increased dopamine levels from
alcohol consumption. As DiSalvo states, Over time, with more drinking, the dopamine effect
diminishes until its almost nonexistent. But at this stage, a drinker is often hooked on the
feeling of dopamine release in the reward center, even though theyre no longer getting it. Once
a compulsive need to go back again and again for that release is established, addiction takes
hold. In other words, people drink alcohol to enjoy the dopamine release, which acts like a
depressant that makes them feel great, but is only causing them to be more addicted to its effects.
This explains why people become addicted to alcohol for its intoxicating effect. According to a
blog, Why do people drink alcohol?, people drink alcohol to experience the effects of
intoxication which are altered perceptions, emotions, movements, vision and hearing. It is
surprising that alcohol is linked to many alterations in the human mind, which could explain how
these alcoholic criminals are unable to make the right, ethical decisions in avoiding the crimes
they commit. Therefore, treatment for their addictions to alcohol is more suitable than jail terms
and fines.
Another factor that plays a huge role in alcohol consumption is peer influences. In other
words, the way people interact with others can influence how they would cope with the
relationships, being either good or bad. Supposedly, if one person experienced a bad relationship
with another person from an argument or brawl, then that person would cope with that
relationship by drinking, which could ease his/her mind. Lorraine Collins in the film, 7 Skills for
Addiction-Free Living hints out an interesting point about how people drink alcohol when they're
with other people:
It is a chicken and egg question. Ah but one of the things we know is that a lack
of social skills can contribute, it can be one of a number of contributors to the
development of alcohol problems On the other side of it, the more the problems
develop the more the person chooses to isolate themselves or isnt functioning well and
so others choose to leave them alone then again you can lead to more negative kinds of
feelings, more negative kinds of actions and so you can develop a negative cycle that
contributes to the development of alcohol and drug use problems.
Clearly people who lack social skills drink alcohol to help get involved in conversations with
other people. They think that a couple of beers could ease their minds and help interact with
people more confidently, but due to the alcohol's mental effects on their minds, it could actually
cause more social problems. These alcoholics are clearly unaware of the adverse alcoholic
effects and only needed help in trying to socially engage with other people. For that reason,
alcoholic criminals should attend treatment programs and social interaction classes to cope with
their addictions and get along with others rather than being punished.
However, requests for treatment programs may not always be the case in the courts. As
Deborah C. England informs, Although it may not be a compassionate or evolved attitude,
many states still lock people up and charge them with crimes for being drunk. Why would they
still choose to lock people up when there is a fairer, suitable solution to these addiction
problems? After all, many treatment programs have been developed in the past. For instance, in
1970, Congress enacted a federal law in response to a growing societal recognition that
alcoholism is a disease that cannot be effectively addressed with jail terms and fines (England).
The Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation
Act of 1970 set up a national institute to administer federal alcoholism programs. (42 U.S.C.
4541-4594.) (England). If the courts were to choose punishment over treatment requests, that
would practically violate these laws enacted. Therefore treatment should be granted for these
criminals.
To sum it up, should these alcoholic criminals serve time behind bars without even
having a chance to address these addiction issues? These issues are very common throughout the
country, so they therefore shouldnt be taken as an utterly serious crime like a terrorist attack,
especially for first-time offenders. They should instead receive the necessary treatments and
social interaction programs since their addictions are caused by peer influences and the
intoxicating effect of alcohol on their minds. I think it would be fair if treatments are given for
any first offenses involving alcohol addiction. But if that same sort of crime occurs more than
once, then treatment along with a small degree of punishment (jail sentencing/fines) should be
favored. Hopefully, there would be less crimes and accidents in this country if treatment
programs were more available to these innocent alcoholics.

Works Cited:

7 Skills for Addiction-Free Living: Social Skills. Psychotherapy.net. 2011. Film.

Alcohol and Crime. 5 May 2014. NCADD. n.d.

DiSalvo, David. What Alcohol Really Does to Your Brain. 16 October 2012. Forbes. 5 May 2014

England, Deborah C. Why do we arrest alcoholics, when we recognize that alcoholism is a
disease? Criminal Defense Lawyer.com. NOLO. n.d. Web. 5 May 2014.

Why do people drink alcohol? 14 November 2010. Addiction Blog. Web. 5 May 2014.