Role of Alcohol: Evaluating Its Implications in College Campuses’ Crime Essay Example

Below are literature reviews to support this hypothesis. One of the studies conducted to deduce the role of alcohol consumption and abuse on college campuses was performed by Mary E. Nicholson, Dolores W.

Maney, Karen Blair, Patricia M. Wamboldt of Pennsylvania State University, Beverly Saxton Mahoney of Penn State Harrisburg and Jianping Yuan from Maricopa Health Department (1996)(Nicholson et al., 1998). This research assessed the frequency of college students’ involvement in both sexual and non-sexual violence, to explore the frequency of alcohol involvement in these incidents. Data was collected in 1994(n=1087) and 1996(n=950) at Northeastern University. A 49-item questionnaire was issued in the spring of 1994 and the fall of 1996 to assess the frequency of violent assault experienced by both victims and perpetrators at a large Northeastern University. The key considerations in their research were sexual and non-sexual violence.

The researchers found that the number of crime or violent incidents had increased significantly from 1994 up to 1996 (Nicholson et al., 1998). In 1996 three times females as many as males said they were victims of unwanted sexual activity and approximately 85% of both, these groups said that alcohol was involved. Notably, this shows that the abuse of alcohol resulted in sexual violence or abuse. Donna Howard, Melinda Griffin and Bradley Boekeloo (2008) assessed the psychological links of sexual assaults that were spurred by alcohol consumption.

They used 551 students for their investigation, and their findings were quite typical. The males reported a lower prevalence of alcohol-related sexual violence as opposed to their female counterparts (6.6% vs. 20.4%). The likelihood for females who reported binge drinking and other forms of assaults linked to the consumption of alcohol

to report alcohol-related sexual violence was higher as compared to the males who only reported other variants of alcohol-related savagery. Howard et al.

(2008) established that alcohol-related sexual violence is linked with certain other risk factors that need consideration through intervention efforts and longitudinal examination. In 1996, nearly twice as many females were involved in nonsexual violence with members of the other sex than were males, and alcohol was reported to be involved in approximately half of the cases (Nicholson et al., 1998). Nevertheless, alcohol was approximately twice as likely to have been involved in male non-sexual violence (59.70%) than in female non-sexual violence (34.78%). From this research, more females were victims of sexual violence than males while more males were victims of non-sexual violence than females (Nicholson et al., 1998). Dina Wilke, Darcy Clay Siebert, Jorge Delva, Michael Philip, and Richard Howell (2005) studied the “gender differences in college students high-risk drinking as measured by an estimated blood alcohol concentration (eBAC) based on gender, height, weight, self-reported number of drinks, and hours spent in drinking.” (Wilke et al., 2005, p.

79). The study found that more women were high-risk drinkers according to their eBAC as opposed to the men. The researchers cited the limitations of the instruments employed as a factor that could discredit their finding but still maintained that they were consistent with the college drinking literature for contextual, and individual factors were the foremost “predictors of high-risk drinking.” (Wilke et al., 2005, p. 79).

The implication of this finding was that women value interpersonal relationships more than men, which makes them more susceptible to many things including violence. According to (Nicholson et al., 1998), college

campuses were not necessarily safe heavens. The data that had been collected showed an escalation in sexual and non-sexual violent incidents resulting from alcoholism. The recommendations were the campuses administration to be at the forefront in combating alcohol-related crime and violence.

Among the measures that were to be effectuated were the educating of the academic community about the perception of both sexual and non-sexual violent behaviors as reportable crime and the reduction or control of alcohol consumption in campuses by through the introduction of strict laws. Similarly, Gayle Walter, David Florkowski, Peter Anderson and Michael Dunn (2009) made a study on the perception of safety between drinkers and non-drinkers among U.S. college students. Their variables included gender, race, age, and residence (Walter et al., 2014). In this study, 56,811 students responded to Core Alcohol and Drugs Survey during the 2010 academic school year. Numerous universities administered the survey and students participated in the survey either in class or electronically.

Walter et al., (2014) found that students who drink may have false senses of security that could spur them to take unnecessary risks or place themselves in dangerous situations. Alcohol use was found to be linked with verbal aggression, and there was a reduction in condom use among students who consume alcohol hence high risk of sexually transmitted infections and pregnancies among students. Consequently, alcohol use was associated with occurrences of coercion and aggression, and the males were noted to display more pro-violent attitudes as compared to females (Walter et al., 2014). According to Walter et al., (2014), excessive alcohol consumption can bring about disastrous consequences including poor academic achievements, engaging in risky behavior such as unplanned sexual

encounters, and involvement in violent acts such as fights and victimization. These acts were some of the secondary effects that the alcoholics were exposed to not to mention theft or destruction of property. All these crimes are punishable, and caution and safety are paramount in these instances.

Walter et al. (2014) study also found that the environment was of great significance to the factors that incited crime among drunk students. Some of the factors that spurred alcohol use amongst students included the place of residence and advertising that promoted drinking and campus alcohol-related rules. The study found that those living off-campus housings were likely to have used alcohol within the past 30 days compared to those living in campus residence halls.

Hence, the students living off campus were more prone to crime and violence as opposed to those living in the university hall of residence. Racial differences were also explored. African-American male youths were no more likely than Caucasian youths to initiate minor or major non-violent acts and less likely to initiate violent acts though these findings may be influenced by extraneous variables such as parental supervision or influence of peers (Walter et al., 2014). White women were more likely than black women to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of the assault as well as their assailants while black women were more likely to have been assaulted with a weapon.

These findings demonstrate alcohol use plays a vital role in the race and sexual based violence towards women and should be taken into consideration in prevention strategies (Walter et al., 2014). Gender is also an important predictor in alcohol-related crimes whereby sex-based identities engaged

in heavy episodic drinking displayed a positive association with alcohol-related aggression. There were increased alcohol-related violence towards strangers and reduced violence towards friends and acquaintances in males. In females, the odds of alcohol-related violence against strangers reduced, but no effect was noted on violence against friends and acquaintances. Acts of violence and crime as a result of heavy episodic drinking varied based on the type of relationship that one has with the other person (Walter et al., 2014). A similar study was conducted by The National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) and written by Aaron White and Ralph Hingson (2013).

The study explored excessive alcohol consumption and related consequences among both drinking and non-drinking college students. The study established that drinking to intoxication leads to widespread impairments in cognitive abilities, which included but not limited to decision-making and impulse control, and impairments in motor and movement skills. Traffic crashes and accidents were also as a result of drunkenness. Death was foremost amongst the alcohol-related consequences and crimes and more than 18000 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die every year from alcohol-related injuries including motor crushes (White & Hingson, 2013). That makes the college campuses unsafe and susceptible to crimes such as murder even when unintentionally committed. The study also estimated the injury cases to be around 599,000 for students between the ages of 18-24 years who were under the influence of alcohol at the time.

Moreover, the annual number of students who were being assaulted by drinkers was estimated to be around 646,000. Sexual assault was suspected to be more rampant as many victims never reported such incidences (White &

Hingson, 2013). White & Hingson (2013) found that 2.7 million college students drove under the influence of alcohol every year. More than 25% of administrators from schools with slightly low drinking levels and more than 50% from schools with high drinking levels claimed that their campuses had a “moderate” problem with alcohol-related property damage. This assertion makes property damage amongst the major crimes committed as a result of alcohol consumption.

Public drunkenness was also another offense. White & Hingson (2013) explain that 110,000 students had been arrested or had gotten into trouble with the police because of poor conduct in public. 20% of this number was found to have alcohol use disorder and had the risk of addiction. The other implications of alcohol were unrelated to crime but had equal significance. Such consequences included poor academic performance, blackout, and memory loss among other things (White & Hingson, 2013).

Over-drinking of alcohol could cause an immediate death by suppressing the brain stem nuclei that controls vital reflexes like breathing and gagging to clear airway. Furthermore, a single session of binge drinking causes inflammation and transient damage to the heart. The seasons when crime peaks in campuses can be linked to several occasions. More drinking happens during celebratory events such as spring breaks, etc.

than during the typical week. According to White & Hingson (2013), during spring break roughly 42% of students get drunk on at least one day, 11% drunk until they blacked out, 32% reported severe hangovers, and 2% were in trouble with the police. An estimated 4 out of 5 drink alcohol to celebrate their 21st birthday and many of them drink more than they plan (White

& Hingson, 2013). The research showed that belief interventions conducted in the week leading up to the 21st birthday celebration can reduce levels of consumption and their impact associated significantly. Michael Sulkowski & Philip Lazarus (2011) reviewed the efforts to make crime data more readily available to parents and students amongst other things. They established that there was barely any empirical backing for the efforts to improve the availability of data on campus atrocities, permit concealed weapons carriers in colleges, better the security mechanism in campuses, and employ the criminal profiling strategies to pinpoint unstable students.

Sulkowski & Lazarus (2011) underscored the possibility of ridding colleges wholly of all violence and encouraged all members of the college fraternity to commit their efforts towards the realization of this goal. Vegh (2011) reiterates the sentiments in the book “The Dark Side of the Ivory Tower: Campus Crime as a Social Problem.” She points out the fact that Security on Campus, Inc. (SOC), victims of crimes together with their relatives, public health researchers, and campus feminists are influential in convincing the politicians and the public that “campus atrocity” has been and still is a menace to hundreds of thousands of college students. These groups highlight that millions of college students fall victims to crime, more so where students occasionally consume alcohol in excess. The perpetrators could be known or could be obscure, and the student accountability for security and safety is often reduced. The groups further denounce the college and university administrators for suppressing the acknowledgment of atrocities in campuses in a bid to safeguard the images of these institutions.

They cite that only the very naïve would presume that

campus life is free of drugs, alcohol, and crimes in general (Vegh, 2011). Colin Peeler, Jeanne Far, John Miller, and Brigham (n.d.) investigated the Peer Norms Correction (PNC) procedure’s effects on college students’ actual drinking conduct and their ideas about drinking on campus. The study found that there is a potential for PNC to change the misperceptions about the norms for the use of alcohol among college peers. This finding was an eye-opener to the various intervention strategies that can be effectuated to contain the rampant consumption of alcohol in campuses PNC being an appropriate program to this end. Though it is beyond the scope of this review to examine efforts to prevent excessive alcohol drinking, great efforts have been made in this area.

However, it has proved impossible to achieve zero percent alcohol consumption among students. As a result, crime on college campuses continues to be a challenge and concern for security and safety of the students (White & Hingson, 2013). The purpose of this paper was to review the available literature that analyzed the implications of alcohol consumption and its effect on crime. After reviewing the literature, I discovered and evaluated the following six key variables to help determine the answer the role that alcohol consumption played on college campuses crime: use of alcohol at college, frequency of alcohol usage, college campus incidents linked to alcohol consumption, gender of alcohol related crime offender and victim, and the student grade level.

Evidence derived from the review reveals that alcohol consumption has serious implications on campus security by causing to crimes, violence, aggression, assault, and damage to property.

References

1. Campbell, H. (2015). What is CRIME? Definition
   

of CRIME (Black’s Law Dictionary). Retrieved from http://thelawdictionary.org/crime/