Alcohol as a Precursor to Violent Death

Abstract

Of the sudden unexpected apparently natural deaths which lack well documented previous natural disease history, a little less than one-third are found to be associated with the direct complications of alcoholism. In the field of violence, alcohol appears to be the one single most prominent and universal factor. Data are presented which indicate that approximately two-thirds of single vehicle driver fatalities involve drinking drivers; almost four out of five having alcohol levels greater than 0.10 percent. Simiarly, approximately two-thirds of homocide victims have been drinking because drunken brawls invariably occur in an alcoholic environment at home or a public place. Unfortunately the statistics on homicide become confused because of the tendency to combine drunken brawl homicides with the far more serious and fearful armed robbery executions and contract killings. There is need to revise our record keeping and study systems in order to more properly categorize homicides.