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> > Rather than seeing what percentage of sexual assaults "involve alcohol use", it would be more realistic and give less slanted numbers if you examined what percentage of intoxicated people commit sexual assault. Having seen and known intoxicated people, I would guess that number would be pretty low --- and it would also be far more useful in determining how "responsible" alcohol is for sexual assault.
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> > -Eric Sleator
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> Limiting the discussion to what percentage of intoxicated people *commit* sexual assualt denies the part that alcohol can play in creating the *victims*. In a way, alcohol is the original date rape drug--except the victim is willingly consuming the drug--not taking it unaware of its potential (at least until their judgement becomes clouded by it).
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> koalamom

While the number of people who commit crimes while drunk is quite low when compared to the number of people who drink, anything above 0% is too much. While I have seen drunks commit crimes in public places, I have to admit that at least I have never seen it happen on an airplane, in Las Vegas, or on a cruise ship. And those are places where people drink a lot. Most of these crimes that I have seen were on the streets. Usually the victim was somebody they didn't even know.

Until I was about 15, I thought drunks were just silly and obnoxious, but then I saw one attack a perfect stranger with his car. He also fought two policemen, but it was a very short fight. When I was in college back in the 50's, I worked for a newspaper as a reporter, and I saw a lot of crime, most of it involving alcohol. It included drunk driving, murder, bootlegging, and assault. Fortunately, I usually arrived after the police and they had the situation under control, but blood and bodies were sometimes still there. So were the bottles and cans. Why would anybody willingly use something that had even a remote chance of causing them to act like that?
Howard