ALCOHOL REMAINS FACTOR IN CRIME

WASHINGTON--In nearly 40 percent of violent crimes, alcohol is a factor,
even as it declines as a cause of death, the Justice Department reports.

Alcohol is an even bigger factor in violence by a variety of intimates -a
current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend. Victims of those attacks
cited alcohol as a factor in two-thirds of them. Victims of spouse violence
alone said three-fourths of their attackers used alcohol.

The report, released Sunday by the department's Bureau of Justice
Statistics, said that among the 7.7 million violent crimes each year where
victims can tell whether attackers used alcohol, drugs or both, 37 percent
thought their assailants were using alcohol or alcohol and drugs.

Of the 5.3 million convicted adult offenders in prison, jail or on parole
or probation in 1996, 36 percent reported they had been drinking at the
time of the crime for which they were convicted, the report estimated.

The report also said one in five victims of alcohol-related violence
reports a financial loss. When injury occurred, the average out-of-pocket
medical expense was $1,500. Overall, 500,000 victims suffer financial
losses each year in alcohol-related violence, and their losses total more
than $400 million, the report said.

Meanwhile, the rate of all alcohol-induced deaths fell 19 percent between
1980 and 1994, according to National Center for Health Statistics data.

Also, the arrest rate for driving under the influence of alcohol dropped by
24 percent since 1990. In the last decade, highway fatalities blamed on
alcohol sank from 24,000 in 1986 to 17,126 in 1996.

Nevertheless, local police made 1,467,300 arrests nationwide in 1996 for
driving under the influence of alcohol. That was down from the peak of 1.9
million arrests in 1983 when 33 states permitted alcohol consumption before
age 21. Since then, responding to federal highway funding requirements,
every state has gone to a minimum drinking age of 21.

The most common state laws define intoxication as 0.10 grams of alcohol per
deciliter of blood, but the Clinton administration wants that lowered to
0.08. A Senate bill would reduce federal highway aid to those states that
refuse to adopt the 0.08 definition, but after heavy lobbying by the liquor
industry the House highway bill does not contain that administration-backed
provision.

Among state prisoners who drank at the time of their offense, the average
alcohol concentration was 0.28 for inmates convicted of violent crimes,
0.30 for those convicted of property crimes, 0.23 for those convicted of
public disorder and 0.19 for those convicted of drug offenses. National
estimates of the annual per capita consumption of alcohol have declined 10
percent since 1990 -from 40 gallons to 36 gallons.

Copyright Los Angeles Times