Injuries due to deliberate violence in areas of Denmark. IV. Alcohol intoxication in victims of violence

The toxicology of homicide offenders and victims: A review

“…Mondays and during the day [86,88,95].These proportions also mirror homicide patterns, and drinking patterns, which also peak on weekends and evenings [55,88]. Given all that has been discussed to date, it is reasonable to conclude that the global homicide pattern is strongly influenced by alcohol consumption patterns.…”

“…Duflou et al [89] reported that 30% overdose victims had BACs in excess of 0.20 g/100 mL, whereas 56% female victims studied by Lerer [97] had BACs in excess of 0.1 g/100 mL. In recent research conducted by the author and colleagues [86], the median BAC among alcohol positive victims was 0.15 g/100 mL, approximately equal to seven standard (Australian) drinks.…”

“…Given the proximal and distal risk factors for violence associated with psychoactive substances, and the strong association between offenders and victims in terms of co-intoxication and drug markets, high levels of substances would be expected in victims. Toxicological results from victims indicate that this certainly appears to be the case [10,53,55,58,61,63,68,73,74,[84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102] (Table 2). Indeed, the levels of substances seen among victims are comparable with those seen among perpetrators.Typically, a half or more of victims have a psychoactive substance present in their blood at the time of the fatal incident, with substances more likely to be found in male [12,55,74,84,[86][87][88]101,102] and younger victims [12,63,67,86,88,96,100,…”

“…At a broader level, higher densities of liquor outlets correlate with higher rates of violent crime in that area, and actively controlling the density of such outlets has a local impact on violence and homicide [36][37][38]. Similarly, late night public drinking represents a time of great risk [86,88,95]. Longer licensing hours would be expected to increase the risk of late-night violence and resultant homicide, and restricted licensing to reduce the opportunity for such risk [149][150][151].…”

Substance use and violent death: a case for the ‘too hard’ basket?

“…Actively controlling the density of such outlets would be expected to have a local impact on violence and homicide. Similarly, late-night public drinking represents a time of particular risk [4,15]. Longer licensing hours would be expected to increase the risk of latenight violence and resultant homicide, and restricted licensing to reduce the opportunity for such risk [16].…”