ROWDY drinkers can鈥檛 blame their violent behaviour on alcohol, say Canadian
researchers who have found that drinkers can 鈥渟ober up鈥� if offered a small
reward. The findings suggest that being intoxicated is no defence if someone
commits a crime.
Psychologists know that alcohol loosens inhibitions and encourages people to
act on impulses they would normally repress. Muriel Vogel-Sprott and colleagues
from the University of Waterloo in Ontario tested this idea by asking volunteers
to press a button when prompted by a computer screen. However, they were told
not to respond if a red light also appeared. Those given alcohol were more
likely to press the button regardless, just as a drinker is more likely to punch
someone even if told to stop, says Vogel-Sprott.
But the team found that drinkers offered a small reward, such as verbal
approval, performed as well as sober volunteers. Vogel-Sprott says this means
that people who鈥檝e been drinking can control their behaviour if they want to.
Fellow alcohol researcher Mark Fillmore from the University of Kentucky in
Lexington agrees. 鈥淚 think people can form intention under the drug,鈥� he
says.
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鈥淚f [this research were] applied to English law, intoxication would never be
possible as a defence, not even to murder,鈥� says criminal lawyer Stephen Jones
from the University of Bristol. But he points out that the study used less
alcohol than is involved in most alcohol-related crimes. Vogel-Sprott鈥檚 findings
will appear in a future issue of Alcoholism: clinical and experimental
research.