NCJ Number
87752
Date Published
1981
Length
55 pages
Annotation
Although both drinking and crime problems vary by age, with alcohol consumption and crime being greater among juveniles and young adults, few inferences about the causal processes associated with this covariation are possible.
Abstract
Previous research on drinking and crime patterns indicates that age regularities characterized each of these classes of behavior. The frequency and volume of drinking change by age, and the seriousness and types of drinking problems show systematic age variations. The number of persons active in criminal behavior and the types of such behavior also vary by age. The young adult years are especially notable for both drinking problems and serious crime problems. This finding suggests that age should be an organizing dimension in considering the alcohol-crime relationship. Research thus far cannot establish that the similar empirical regularities of drinking problems and criminal behavior in the young adult years have any systematic causal relationship with each other. These two phenomena may be independently explained by other factors. Future research should focus on the young adult years in a way that deals specifically with alcohol consumption patterns and their behavioral implications. Research should also deal with the criminal behavior of young adults and work back from that behavior to determine whether alcohol has played a role. Future research should also be conducted on general populations. Finally, research should consider attitudes and beliefs about drinking, since there is reason to believe that behavioral effects of alcohol derive in part from the reinterpretation of normative expectations and from altered evaluations of behavior associated with alcohol use. (Author summary modified)