Alcohol Related Crimes

In terms of criminal activity, alcohol tends to be a very common factor among most cases.
Because alcohol has the ability to lower inhibitions, impair judgment and encourage
aggressive tendencies, many people find themselves committing crimes after drinking an
excessive amount of beer, a large amount of liquor or any other extreme amount of alcohol
intake.
According to the Analysis of National Data on the Prevalence of Alcohol Involvement in
Crime created by the U.S. Department of Justice, approximately 40% of inmates who were
incarcerated for violent offenses had been drinking while committing their crimes. What’s
more is that many of these criminals had an estimated blood alcohol content level of more
than three times the legal limit for adults.
 
Main Types of Crimes Associated with Alcohol
Although the most common alcohol-related crimes we tend to hear about are cases of
drinking and driving, there are a variety of other major offenses that result from excessive
alcohol intake. Some of the most common alcohol-related crimes include:

Robberies
 According to a study completed by the NCADD, 15% of robberies in America (about
197,000) were committed by offenders who had been using alcohol.
 The average number of violent victimizations each year totals to about 11.1 million,
with 128,790 incidents in which the offender was using alcohol.
Sexual assaults and rape
 37% of rapes and sexual assaults (about 149,000) were committed by offenders who
had been using alcohol.

Aggravated assaults
 27% of aggravated assaults (about 509,859) were committed by offenders who had
been using alcohol.
Simple assaults
 25% of simple assaults (about 1,445,304) were committed by offenders who had been
using alcohol.

Homicides
 Federal research shows that 40% of convicted murderers used alcohol before or
during the homicide.
One important thing to remember, however, is that alcohol use isn’t just common among
the perpetrators of these crimes alone—it’s common among many of their victims, as well.
Alcohol makes people more vulnerable and impairs judgment, which can easily be taken
advantage of by an intoxicated aggressor.

Statistics on Alcohol-Related Crimes

According to the NCADD Fact Sheet: Alcohol and Crime, research has shown the following
statistics:

Driving While Intoxicated:

 Nearly 10,000 people are killed annually on U.S. roadways due to alcohol-related
accidents, while hundreds of thousands more are at least injured
 Alcohol-related auto accidents kill someone in the U.S. every 22 minutes
 At any minute, one of 50 drivers on the road is drunk and every weekend night, one
out of 10 is drunk
 Drunk drivers are responsible for half of all fatal injuries on major highways in the
U.S., which estimates to about 65 people a day
 Alcohol-related car accidents cost American taxpayers more than $100 billion
 Close to 1.4 million people are arrested for a DWI each year and 780,000 are
convicted (of those convicted, one-third are sentenced to community corrections and two-
thirds of those sentenced to incarceration are repeat offenders)

Violence at Home:
 Nearly 500,000 violent acts between intimates involve offenders who have been
drinking
 About 118,000 incidents of family violence (excluding spouses) involve alcohol
 70% of alcohol-related violent acts occur in the home with greatest frequency at
11:00 p.m., and 20% of these incidents involve the use of a weapon other than hands, fists
or feet
 Alcohol and other drug abuse by a parent or guardian is involved in 7 out of 10 cases
of child abuse and neglect—90% of child welfare professionals cite alcohol as the drug of
choice in these cases

Violent Acts in General:

 Published studies suggest that as many as 86% of homicide offenders, 37% of assault
offenders, 60% of sexual offenders, up to 57% of men and 27% of women involved in
marital violence, and 13% of child abusers, were drinking at the time of their offense
 Out of 5.3 million adults, 36% of those under correctional supervision were drinking
at the time of their conviction offense
 40% of state prisoners convicted of violent crimes were under the influence of alcohol
at the time of their offense (the more violent the crime, the greater the likelihood that
alcohol was involved)
 25% of state prisoners tested positive after given a standard questionnaire to screen
for alcoholism
 1.4 million incidents of alcohol-related violence are committed against strangers each
year
 Individuals under the age of 21 were victims in more than 13% of acts related to
alcohol-related violence, and were the offenders in nearly 9% of them
 Victims were injured in 60% of alcohol-related incidents of violence, with men and
women equally represented, but with men more than twice as likely to have sustained a
major injury due to a greater number of severe lacerations
Violent Acts to Oneself:
 Adults with a major depressive disorder (MDE) in the past year who reported past-
month binge alcohol consumption or illicit drug use were more likely to report suicidal
thoughts and suicide attempts than their counterparts with a past-year MDE who had not
engaged in past-month binge drinking or illicit drug use
 In 2002, approximately 3 million youths were at risk for suicide during the past year,
and youths who reported past-year alcohol use were twice as likely to attempt suicide
But even with the high number of people who are convicted of alcohol-related crimes, the
effects of the crimes don’t end with the criminals themselves. They can end with family
members, spouses, friends, coworkers, strangers and entire communities—and not
pleasantly.