NCJ Number
82844
Journal
Archiv fuer kriminologie Volume: 167 Issue: 3 and 4 Dated: (March/April 1981) Pages: 70-82
Date Published
1981
Length
13 pages
Annotation
A study reviewed the official records of 806 adult offenders charged with a violent offense in Koeln, West Germany, during 1969 to examine the link between the influence of alcohol and aggressive behavior.
Abstract
The records showed that half of the offenders were intoxicated at the time of the violent offense, but there was significant variation in the type of violence associated with inebriation. In murder cases, a relatively large number of perpetrators evidenced low alcohol blood content; high concentrations of alcohol were recorded for assailants who either picked a fight or responded to a provocation of violence. Drunken aggressive behavior frequently seems to be motivated primarily by the effects of the alcohol consumed. Alcohol appeared to be a factor in most violent incidents perpetrated by men under 40, while older assailants were more frequently sober at the time of the offense. Further, drunken assault and battery was more characteristic of single or separated males without a permanent place of residence. Only one-third of those using firearms or beating weapons were recorded as being under the influence of alcohol. Passive physical resistance (grasping furniture, doorposts, kicking, etc.) was the form of violence exhibited by 73.7 percent of those found to be inebriated and 66.5 percent of them had prior records for similar alcohol-related offenses. Those intoxicated and resistive most likely became violent after police intervention and the attempt to obtain the blood sample. A typical offense pattern with violence resulting in injury involves younger men in barroom brawls. More refined characterization of alcohol-related offenses would have to consider the nature of police intervention, offender motivation, individual alcohol tolerance, and situational features of the event. Tables, footnotes and a 50-item bibliography are given.