Major Changes in the Identification and Management of the Public Inebriate Population (From Currents in Alcoholism, Volume 2, P 299-314, 1977, Frank A Seixas, ed.)

• NCJ Number: 81206
• Author(s): F J Hooper
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: A Track Paper from the Seventh Annual Medical-Scientific Conference of the National Alcoholism Forum, May 6-8, 1976, Washington, D.C.

Annotation

A study of public intoxication arrest patterns in Buffalo, N.Y.,. was undertaken to determine the present composition of this segment of the public inebriate population and to identify what significant changes occurred in the arrest patterns over a 4-year period (1971-74).

Abstract

The population of public intoxication arrestees over the 4-year period was examined for various sociodemographic variables. The investigation of arrest patterns focused on the identification of specific age groups, their frequency of arrest/rearrest, as well as the ascertainment of yearly population profiles. Nearly 7,000 public intoxication arrests were reported in Buffalo during 1971-74. Findings point to more frequent occurrence of public intoxication arrests on the weekend and during the warmer months; a preponderance of male arrestees (more than 90 percent); a majority of white offenders (56 percent); a significant reduction in the number of older offenders; and identification of additional members of this offender population, especially younger persons. White and black male subgroups experienced dissimilar changes in their age compositions during the period studied, and a steady decline was noted in the number of rearrests and recidivists. Thus, the chronic offender, thought to be involved in most arrests of inebriates, was rapidly diminishing from the police blotter in Buffalo. Only 1 percent of all offenders were arrested 6 or more times during 1974 and accounted for less than 5 percent of all arrests. Tables and 10 references are included.