Acute effects of alcohol and chronic alcoholism as causes of violent crime

Abstract

To study the influence of alcohol and psychosocial variables on delinquent behavior, we coded data from the psychiatric evaluation of 254 defendants using a standardized score sheet, analyzing correlations between acute intoxication at the time of the crime (ICD 10:F10.0), diagnosis of alcohol dependency according to ICD 10 (F10.2), psycho-biographical variables, criminal history, and parameters relating to the index offence. We found that 64.6% of all defendants studied were intoxicated when committing the crime and 25.6% suffered from alcohol dependency. Alcohol intoxication correlated to occurrence of violent crime, cruelty in committing the index offence, and earlier convictions. Logistic regression, with demographic and psychosocial variables entered as covariables, revealed acute alcohol intoxication but not alcohol dependency as a predictor of violent crime (odds ratio 2.3, P = 0.02). Alcohol intoxication and dependency were also independent predictors of earlier convictions (intoxication, odds ratio 4.4, P = 0.0001; dependency, odds ratio 3.6, P = 0.003). Our findings support the hypothesis that acute alcohol intoxication, not dependency, influences violent crime in a direct manner. However, alcohol dependency predicts criminal recidivism.