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Alcohol and Violence

  • Chapter
Biological Contributions to Crime Causation

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASID,volume 40))

Abstract

The use of alcohol may increase aggression. This well-known fact has been repeatedly demonstrated both by means of experiments (Boyatzis, 1974; Shunstich & Taylor, 1972) and by epidemiological criminological research. For example, in his well-known Philadelphia study, Wolfgang (1958) demonstrated as long ago as 1958 that alcohol played a part in about two thirds of the murders he analyzed. Even earlier - and possibly in a more sophisticated fashion - Shupe (1954) had established the link between alcohol and crimes of violence. By analyzing blood and urine samples of delinquents who had been arrested immediately after committing their violent offenses he was able to determine reliably to what extent these offenses were alcohol related, Shupe’s research showed that the use of alcohol was a contributory factor in crimes of violence. For example, 67% of murderers in the study had a blood alcohol level of more than 1.0% (for assailants the relative percentage was 60).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Criminological Institute, Leiden University, The Netherlands

    W. Buikhuisen, C. van der Plas-Korenhoff & E. H. M. Bontekoe

Authors
  1. W. Buikhuisen
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  2. C. van der Plas-Korenhoff
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  3. E. H. M. Bontekoe
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Brogden Hall, 1202 West Johnson Street, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA

    Terrie E. Moffitt

  2. Social Science Research Institute, and Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Denney Research Building, Los Angeles, California, 90089-1111, USA

    Sarnoff A. Mednick

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© 1988 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht

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Buikhuisen, W., van der Plas-Korenhoff, C., Bontekoe, E.H.M. (1988). Alcohol and Violence. In: Moffitt, T.E., Mednick, S.A. (eds) Biological Contributions to Crime Causation. NATO ASI Series, vol 40. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2768-1_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2768-1_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7744-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2768-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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