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Affiliation
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Department of Criminal Justice, East Carolina University, 239 Rivers Building, Greenville, NC 27858, USA. Electronic address: jonesg@ecu.edu. |
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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: We used an exhaustive dataset of violations from the NC Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) agency to analyze 12 years of alcohol-related violations in NC.
METHODS: Descriptive statistics were used to explore distribution and epidemiology of alcohol citations, including distributions by demographic factors, month, day of the week, and time of day.
RESULTS: Approximately 47,065 citations were issued by ALE during this time. The majority of the citations were issued to non-Hispanic (96%), white (89%), males (65%). The median age was 19 years old (range 18-94). The months with the most citations were August through October and April. Citations issued on Thursday through Sunday accounted for approximately 87% of all citations issued. The most common types of violations were underage possession of beer/wine (55.5%), providing beer/wine to someone underage (13.6%), and underage possession of liquor (8.8%).
CONCLUSION: This is the first study to examine the epidemiology of alcohol-related violations over a large geographical area. Other states, provinces, and/or countries can use these findings to exam if their distribution alcohol-related violations are comparable with this study, and explore associations between such data and alcohol use behaviors.
Language: en |