Alcoholism, alcohol, intoxication and assaultive behavior.

The use of alcohol and the role of alcohol intoxication in the crime was studied in 307 males entering the North Carolina prison system after conviction of serious assaultive crimes. The majority (80%) were convicted of homicide (1st and 2nd degree murder and manslaughter), and the remainder (20%) committed a variety of felony assaults. Only 8% of the subjects were abstainers, and 36% were problem drinkers. The problem drinkers often had previous arrests for alcohol offenses (70%) and also were more likely to have previous nonalcohol criminal records (67%) and previous serious assaults (50%) than were other subjects. The problem drinkers were unlikely to have been engaged in treatment of alcoholism (13%) and almost never voluntarily sought treatment. The majority (58%) of the subjects were definitely drinking at the time of the crime, and a substantial number (40%) of the victims were definitely drinking at the time of the assault. Amnesia for the cime was uncommon (13%) among those who were drinking; but of those subjects who did claim amnesia, almost all had been drinking. Alcohol use appeared to be a significant ingredient in the production of the assaultive behavior in the majority of the cases. The majority of the subjects who were intoxicated at the time of the crime did not consider their state of intoxication as relevant to their behavior in spite of the seeming advantage to do so.