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Alcohol Abuse And Alcohol Misuse Essay

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Offences of a violent nature exist as an immense plight to victims, society and also to the offenders themselves (Whitehead, Ward & Collie, 2007). More specifically, violent crimes associated with alcohol misuse are considered to accumulate to half of all violent crimes conducted across the United Kingdom (UK) (Budd, 2010). From this point alone, it could be construed that alcohol misuse is a determinant of violent offending behaviour. However, according to Matreau (2008) alcohol should not be considered to be a cause of crime but instead a catalyst through which the offender’s behaviour is exacerbated. Zhang (1997) furthers this argument by suggesting that alcohol interacts with other characteristics of offending, as well as the context in which the alcohol misuse arises, acting as a moderating variable for the crime to occur. There has since been significant research conducted around the strength of the alcohol-violence relationship in males (e.g. Watt, Shepherd & Newcombe, 2008; Gannon, 2007). Such research suggests that regular chronic alcohol misuse increases the likelihood of aggression and antisocial behaviour and therefore simultaneously increases the opportunity for violent crime to transpire (Felson & Staff, 2010; Hoaken & Phil, 2000).

Due to the high volume of violent crimes reportedly committed every year, (Needham, Gummerum, Mandeville-Norden, Rakestrow-Dickens, Mewse, Barnes & Hanoch, 2015; Budd, 2010;Krug et al., 2002),with and without alcohol as a

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