Alcohol and violence: Exploring patterns and responses

Each contribution presented in this monograph provides a distinct disciplinary perspective from the authors area of expertise - anthropology, clinical psychology, human rights law, gender, public health, and violence. An effort was made to retain the original style, tone, and frame of reference of each paper to allow the reader a better understanding of the ways alcohol and violence are approached and discussed in different sectors. We begin by exploring the factors that influence patterns of violence at both the individual and societal levels. The paper by Anne Fox examines the meanings attached to drinking and violence in different cultures and focuses on the concepts of disinhibition, masculinity, and the drinking environment. The paper by Kenneth E. Leonard examines the biomedical and psychological explanations for alcohols effects, looking at whether certain individual characteristics explain the relationship between some drinking patterns and some patterns of violent behavior. The second part of this monograph explores some practical responses toward preventing alcohol-related violence. The intention is not to present simplistic solutions, but rather to stimulate informed discussion about different approaches that could be effective. The paper by Courtney O'Connor and Claire Dickson looks at alcohol and violence from a gender perspective. It identifies strategies used to respond to analogous social problems and extrapolates promising lines of action for the future. Finally, Joseph Asare and Ronald West have developed a set of international guidelines, amalgamated by ICAP and intended to enhance communications between first responders to alcohol-related violence, particularly between the health and law enforcement sectors. The guidelines supplement an annotated bibliography of first responder guidelines that is already available on the ICAP website at www.icap.org. (From the editor' s abstract)