Risk Factors for Women Being Under the Influence of Alcohol Compared With Other Illicit Substances at the Time of Committing Violent Crimes.
Kathleen Brewer-Smyth, Ryan T Pohlig
PMID 29176519WHAT IT FOUND
In women in prison, being under alcohol, alone or with another substance, versus other substances only was not significantly linked to violent crime after accounting for other factors.
A separate analysis of 20 women under alcohol only did find an association.
Key findings
01When alcohol versus other substances was included in the model predicting violent crime, it was not significantly related.
02A separate analysis of 20 women who were under the influence of alcohol only found a significant association with violent crime.
03In the model comparing alcohol, alone or with another substance, with other substances only, committing a violent crime was significantly related to alcohol.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was an observational secondary analysis, so it cannot show that alcohol, sexual abuse, or TBI caused violent crime. The analysed substance-influenced sample was 113 of 138 inmates, and the alcohol-only analysis used only 20 women. Many women were under alcohol and another substance at the same time, so the study cannot separate the contribution of alcohol from other drugs. Substance use was largely self-reported, and exact amount and timing of alcohol intake could not be measured. Some inmates who said they were not under any substance could not be validated if they were apprehended long after the crime. TBI data were collected before validated TBI measurements were developed. Abuse severity may be underestimated because some participants became emotional and stopped completing the questionnaire.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that alcohol causes violent crime or that telling women to avoid alcohol will prevent violence. This was an observational secondary analysis, many women used alcohol with other substances, and the alcohol-only finding came from 20 women.