Alcohol and Criminal Behavior Among Blacks - The Case for Research on Special Populations (From Drinking and Crime, P 207-252, 1981, James J Collins, Jr, ed. - See NCJ-87749)

• NCJ Number: 87753
• Author(s): J Roizen
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 46 pages
• Sale Source: Guilford Publications, Inc.
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

When social class is accounted for, empirical data do not support the proposition that a disproportionate amount of black crime results from drinking, with the exception of data from tavern studies.

Abstract

In general, data show that young, lower-class men are greatly at risk of the negative consequences of drinking and that black women who drink have very high drinking rates. Studies of drinking contexts, such as ghetto taverns, suggest that drinking is relatively common among a significant proportion of lower-class blacks and that much of it occurs in a setting where normative constraints are relaxed. Just as the data do not yield a clear and consistent picture of black drinking and criminal behavior, neither does the evidence support demographically specific theories of the relationship between alcohol and crime, except, possibly class-based theories. The strongest case for the association of drinking and crime, in the absence of better data, is that both are responses to factors in individual and social life, such as poverty, family disorganization, and perceived social and economic failure. Studies of behavior under the influence of alcohol in various drinking contexts should be the focus of future research, along with the microorganization of drinking behavior. Tabular and graphic data from the research reviewed are provided.