40% of Violent Crime Linked to Alcohol

Alcohol abuse is a factor in nearly 40% of violent crime in the United States, despite declines in alcohol consumption and other offenses usually tied to drinking, the Justice Department said. Researchers estimated that nearly 4 in 10 violent felonies, or 3 million annually, were committed by someone who had been drinking. Virtually all of the offenders were men, and most of them were drunk when they committed the crime. The study tracked murders, rapes, robberies and assaults. The study compiled several years of data and included thousands of interviews with victims and offenders.