Alcohol use and prior alcohol-related convictions as predictors of probation officer perceptions and sentencing

Presentence reports for 740 offenders were content analyzed. Regression techniques were used to evaluate a number of predictors of sentencing, including the effects of number of prior alcohol-related convictions and whether the offender was intoxicated while committing the offense he was charged with. The two most prominent variables affecting the severity of sentence were the probation officer's assessment of the offender's probable success on probation and the legal seriousness of the offense. While failing to have any significant direct effects on sentencing, our measures of alcohol use had significant indirect effects which were mediated by the probation officer's assessment of success on probation and legal seriousness. An extensive criminal record of prior alcohol-related convictions resulted in a poorer prognosis for success on probation this, in turn, led to more severe sentences for these offenders. Intoxication while committing an offense was related to the commission of minor crimes which, subsequently, yielded more lenient treatment for alcohol-users compared to nonusers. Finally, native offenders were more likely than nonnatives to have many prior alcohol-related convictions and to have been intoxicated while committing an offense.