Alcohol’s Influence on Violent Deaths

We have performed a descriptive, retrospective and longitudinal study to determine both the characteristics of the individuals involved in a violent death as well as the circumstances surrounding the event that took place in the province of Lugo (Spain) during the time period between 2007 and 2009. Data was achieved from archives that belong to the Institute of Legal Medicine of Galicia’s territorial branch in Lugo. Alcohol is a psychoactive substance that is very commonly used worldwide. It is the most frequently used psychoactive substance in our country. It has been integrated in the Western World’s cultural model of drug ingestion, coming to be considered a “partner in crime”. The association between crime and alcohol had been established many years ago. Alcohol is known to increase the possibility or to be the direct cause of criminal conduct. In this study, we found that it is also involved in situations in which people die in an unnatural manner. A total of eighty-four cases of death associated with alcohol, representing 17.75% of all violent deaths, were reported in our study. The most commonly found profile consists in middle-aged males that suffer an accidental death during the weekend.