Abstract
The minimal requirements for evaluating the relative magnitude of acute and chronic effects of alcohol on violent crimes include: (a) a selection of comparable samples of violent and nonviolent events, and (b) adequate controls for the anticipated positive correlation between drinkers and drinking in feasible samples. Following these requirements, hypotheses about the impact of personal drinking patterns and drinking in events on violent crimes in a random sample of 1,147 arrestees interviewed in a California detection facility in 1989 were tested. Using multiple indicators of drinking in events, and taking into account errors of misclassification and correlations between drinkers and drinking, it was found that arrestees charged with violent crimes showed significantly higher rates of drinking in events related to arrest. On the other hand, the twelve-month drinking pattern of arrestees did not discriminate between violent and nonviolent charges in this sample, given controls for drinking in events.
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