[Retrospective analysis of blood collection protocols and blood alcohol analysis (Hamburg 1988)]

9,361 blood sample protocols (7,264 traffic and 2,097 criminal offences) of 1988 have been recorded and evaluated by electronic data processing under various aspects at the Institute for Legal Medicine in Hamburg. Since 1987 a slight increase of total offences was observed with a slight increase of alcohol-related traffic delinquency. Other results of the study are: The quota of women and as well of young people does not show an increasing tendency in alcoholic offences. In most cases older offenders had higher blood alcohol concentrations. More than 50% of the traffic offenders had a blood alcohol concentration above 1.3%. Altogether, criminal offenders had higher blood alcohol concentrations than traffic offenders. According to the common drinking- and leisure behaviour most of the alcohol delicts happened at weekends around midnight. In more than 50% the main traffic delict was drunken driving discovered by police control. Main criminal offences were delicts of property, bodily harm and resistance to police actions. With regard to alcohol habitation a great number of criminal offenders declares constant alcohol consumption, especially a lot of young people (under the age of 20). The medical diagnosis mostly pointed to slight or medium degree of drunkenness.