Not that anybody is advocating a return to Prohibition, which didn’t exactly turn out well.
Yet it is interesting to look at data that shows that drunk driving isn’t the only social problem linked to abusing alcohol.
A few years ago, roughly one out of three people arrested in the state was drunk at the time of their arrest. Another one in three were high. One out of six were drunk and high. If you add that up, most people in handcuffs were drunk, high or both when they got arrested, while a minority were sober.
Drunk driving arrests are a common crime, which boosts those numbers, so looking only at major crimes gives you a different picture.
From the Crime in Washington 2012 report, a tiny percentage of people arrested for property crimes were suspected of being drunk or using drugs at the time. The percentage goes way up for major crimes against people:
- aggravated assault (13.5 percent)
- assault (14.6 percent)
- kidnapping (11.4 percent)
- forcible rape (17.3 percent)
- murder (19.5 percent)
There’s a pattern there. As the severity of the crime increases, so does the chance arresting officers believe alcohol or drugs was involved.
Other studies show an even bigger link between the abuse of alcohol and violent crimes. One researcher did a study of published studies and estimated up to 13 percent of child abusers, 37 percent of assault offenders, 60 percent of sex offenders and 86 percent of homicide offenders were drinking at the time of their offense.
An economist looked for hard evidence about cause and effect, both in the United States and from worldwide data involving the abuse of drugs and alcohol. An increase in the street price of cocaine, for example, decreased the chances of being a victim of robbery or assault.
So as lawmakers and the governor tackle the problem of drunk driving, with an emphasis on making chronic drunk drivers get clean and sober or face serious jail time, there may be an unexpected benefit: fewer violent crimes and safer neighborhoods.