Premium
Responsibility for crime and injury when drunk
Author(s) -
Bergman Bo
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1997.tb03679.x
Subject(s) - drunk driving , psychology , alcohol intoxication , criminology , connection (principal bundle) , multidisciplinary approach , social psychology , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , injury prevention , law , political science , medicine , medical emergency , engineering , structural engineering
The aim of this paper is to highlight the complexity in the connection between alcohol intoxication and responsibility for crime from a multidisciplinary approach comprising medical, legal and criminological perspectives. There is no doubt that there is a connection between violent behaviour and alcohol intoxication. However, several investigations show that alcohol heightens aggressiveness only when the drunken person is provoked. A case which may serve as a model when discussing legal responsibility for acts carried out when drunk is outlined. Ethical considerations are discussed and exemplified concerning the motive, as well as the principles, of punishing an intoxicated perpetrator. However, there are no definite solutions concerning what is right or wrong, and each reader will have his own opinion, which may well differ from that of the author.