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32 J. Res. Crime & Delinquency 3 (1995)

handle is hein.journals/jrcd32 and id is 1 raw text is: BRINGING BOOZE BACK IN: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ALCOHOL AND HOMICIDE ROBERT NASH PARKER Although there has been a great deal of theoretical and empirical research on the causes and distribution of homicide during the past 30 years, almost all of this research has excluded from consideration the relationship between homicide and alcohol consumption. Based on theoretical analysis, a U.S. state-level study was conducted to test hypotheses concerning the relationship between alcohol and homi- cide from four major theoretical perspectives; specific predictions based on previous research on the causes oftypes ofhomicide were also derived. Five types ofhomicide rates were examined, with findings revealing that alcohol consumption rates change the way important predictors such as poverty and deterrence are related to specific types of homicide. Alcohol consumption has important direct net effects on two types of primary homicide, and alcohol regulation was found to interact with other forms of social control like capital punishment. Support was also found for a rational choice-based interaction between alcohol consumption and the application of death sentences. The article concludes with a discussion of the value of theoretical analysis, particularly when applied to the prediction of interactions. In his landmark study of the social and behavioral aspects of homicide, Marvin Wolfgang (1958) reported that 64% of the homicide offenders and victims he studied had been drinking alcohol. Thirty years later, Wolfgang's (1958) research, which acknowledges the important role of alcohol in violent behavior, is still being cited as exemplary (National Committee for Injury I would like to thank Judy Gerson, Cecilia L. Ridgeway, Harold Holder, Robert Saltz, Joel Grube, Paul Gruenewald, Michael Hennessy, Robin Room, Andrew Treno, Constance Weisner, Jocelyn Alexander, and three JRCD reviewers for their comments on earlier versions of this article, and the office staff of the Prevention Research Center for their technical support and good humor. Support for this research was provided by training grant #T32-AA07240 and a center grant, #AA-06282, both from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The NIAAA does not necessarily endorse the analyses and conclusions herein, which remain the responsibility of the author. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CRIME AND DELINQUENCY, Vol. 32 No. 1, February 1995 3-38 Q 1995 Sage Publications, Inc. 3 from the SAGE Social Science Collections. All Rights Reserved.

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