Alcohol lowers your inhibitions. It makes it easier for you to take risks or do things that you would never do otherwise. It can break down some of these social conventions – your ideas about the way people expect you to act – or just make people more likely to act differently than they do on a daily basis.
As such, studies have consistently found that there is a link between the alcohol and the odds of someone committing a crime. For instance, one study in the late 90s looked at violent crime and found out that alcohol was involved in about 25% of the cases. This meant that there were 2.7 million cases of violent crime over the year in which alcohol was at least a contributing factor.
This is still true today
It may be tempting to say that studies like this are outdated, but they’re actually very important because they show a consistent link. You can look at more recent statistics and you’ll see that they reflect a similar relationship between criminal activity and alcohol use.
For example, some sources claim that about 40% of those who are serving criminal charges for violent crimes had been drinking alcohol before the commission of those crimes. In many cases, the person’s blood alcohol concentration was over the legal limit. They may not have been driving, so this wouldn’t constitute a drunk driving arrest, but it still shows that alcohol is definitely influencing their thinking and how they act.
Speaking of drunk driving, for anyone with a license, alcohol use always increases the odds of an arrest. Many people think they are “sober enough to drive” and still get pulled over.
Your life isn’t one mistake
If you drink alcohol and then do something that you regret, perhaps because of peer pressure from others or just because you weren’t thinking clearly, you definitely don’t want your life to be defined by that one event. You need to make sure that you know about all of the legal defense options you have and what steps you can take to protect your future.