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Abstract
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The study was concerned with the cases of criminal homicide recorded by the police in Helsinki in the years 1963-1968, totalling 116. In 92 cases (79.3%) the presence of alcohol either in the victim or in the perpetrator was ascertainable, and in most cases both had been under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol had played a part in murders less often than in other types of criminal homicide.
When aggressive behaviour and altercation had preceded the homicidal act, it had beat initiated by the victim as frequently as by the perpetrator. Alcohol was often associated with such modes of aggressive and conflict behaviour. Where alcohol was associated with such behaviours, usually a situation involving two males was in question. At least in some of these cases, homosexual and jealousy problems had played a part.
In those alcohol-positive cases where the homicide had been preceded by aggressive behaviour and altercation initiated by the victim, the average blood alcohol value for the victims was 0.248%; the corresponding figure for the cases where such behaviour initiated by the victim had not occurred was 0.213% or almost the same; and thus the average severity of the states of intoxication had also apparently been approximately the same in both groups of cases. From this it seemed legitimate to infer that aggressive tendencies in the victims belonging to the former group mere stronger or more easily actualized, so that alcohol was enough to precipitate their manifestation. As a rule, chemico-legal blood alcohol determinations had not been possible with the perpetrators, but everything suggested that the same applied, to them as to victims.
Language: en |