NCJ Number
192655
Date Published
2001
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This chapter explores offender alcohol use, abuse, and dependence.
Abstract
The problem most commonly found to be the proximate cause of a variety of crimes, especially violent crimes, is alcohol use, abuse, and dependence. At least 70 percent of prison inmates are estimated to be alcohol and/or drug addicted. Yet alcohol tends to be the drug most often minimized or overlooked by corrections practitioners. Cross-addiction, cross-tolerance, and multi-drug use is the reality of offender substance use and abuse. Alcoholism is a chronic condition marked by the progressive incapacity to control alcohol consumption despite psychological, spiritual, social, or physiological life disruptions. Physical dependence means that the body has developed a metabolic demand for a particular substance and rebels violently when it is denied that substance. Type I alcoholics start drinking later in life and progress to alcoholism slowly. Type II alcoholics start drinking at a very early age, rapidly becoming addicted, and have many character disorders and behavioral problems that precede their alcoholism. There is a similarity between certain biosocial criminological theories and theories of alcoholism. Alcoholism seems to be a function of the “craving brain,” a concept close to reward dominance theory in criminology. Another cause of alcoholism is the production and metabolism of acetaldehyde (AcH). A drug used in treating alcoholism called Antabuse functions to maintain high levels of AcH in the bloodstream, causing the alcoholic to experience the punishing physical feelings associated with high alcohol intake. It is administered to chronic alcoholics in association with intensive psychosocial counseling. Self-help programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, provide members with all the components of a successful counseling relationship. Offenders could also be referred to Rational Recovery or other strictly nonspiritual support groups. 22 references, 1 figure