Heavy Alcohol Use and the Commission of Nuisance Crime: Evidence from Underage Drunk Driving Laws

摘要

There is extensive evidence documenting a strong relationship between alcohol use and crime. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS; 1998) reports that over a third of convicted offenders in 1996 were drinking at the time of their offense. The evidence is less clear, however, that heavy alcohol use causes individuals to commit crime, for example by increasing aggression, lowering inhibition, or altering perceptions of acceptable behavior. Alternatively, it could be that some unobserved third factor such as risk preference causes individuals both to consume alcohol and to commit crime. In this case, one might observe a positive relationship between alcohol use and crime even in the absence of a true causal effect. Indeed, this is the sentiment echoed in the introductory quote: even in the presence of a strong alcohol/crime relationship, it is not clear that reducing alcohol consumption would subsequently reduce crime.