There are many factors that are related to or can instigate domestic violence in Las Vegas. It could be stress, genuine animosity, a rough upbringing, jealousy, or any random trigger that is exclusive to the people involved. Each domestic violence case has its own story to tell, and how the circumstances come about are fairly unique.
One of the oft-quoted factors that people consider with regards to domestic violence is that the abusive partner is a raging alcoholic. While it is true that alcohol has properties that can alter a person’s behavior once enough of it gets into a person’s system, does it really have an effect on how a person behaves towards their partner? Let’s take a look into the relation between alcoholism and domestic violence.
A Look at Numbers
In the first place, why do so many people cite alcohol as a factor in domestic violence cases? It’s because it’s been recorded in multiple cases worldwide. World Health Organization records indicate that 55% of domestic abuse cases reported worldwide involved alcohol at least one way or another, mostly involving alcohol consumption prior to an instance of abuse.
On the other side of the scale, the victims themselves would often turn to alcoholism themselves to deal with the pain. Based on recorded cases, domestic abuse victims were 15 times more likely to abuse alcohol themselves after a bout of violence. Note that the number is a global average; the numbers may be higher or lower depending on the country.
How They Are Related
As stated earlier, many people automatically relate excessive alcohol ingestion to personality changes and mood swings that can lead to domestic violence. Others state that the domestic abuse factors in only when the person is truly drunk. Once they sober up, they eventually stop being abusive and may even claim no memory of the abuse in the first place.
Sobriety advocates and medical experts refute this reasoning quite regularly. They point out that alcoholism alone does not act as a trigger for domestic abuse, but is instead only one of many instigating factors for the incident. Sobering up does not always deal with the underlying issue; in some cases, alcohol is only a red herring and other factors are in play, but people may have ignored them.
Is Alcohol Really Significant?
On one end, experts argue that alcoholism is only one factor in a long list of many that can lead to domestic violence. On the other hand, national records indicate that at least 2/3s of recorded domestic abuse cases across the country involved the perpetrator drinking alcohol immediately prior to the incident. With this situation, it is understandable that people are confused about how alcoholism factors into domestic violence cases.
In the end, whether or not alcoholism and domestic abuse are totally related is determined on a case-to-case basis. It may just be an overlap of two negative aspects, or it can just be pure coincidence. It all comes down to the personal experience of the involved parties, the environment they live in, and other issues that may escalate the situation or not.
Domestic violence is a complex and intimate crime, affected by various aspects that may be unique to a case, or similar across a variety of recorded incidents. Whether or not alcohol is related to such cases will be determined in court.