Distribution of alcohol violation-types in North Carolina between 2000-2011

In the state of North Carolina (NC) Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) Agents enforce laws that pertain to the sale, purchase, transportation, manufacturing, consumption, and possession of alcohol. For instance, ALE officers enforce laws concerning underage consumption, fake identification ownership, and underage intoxicated driving. We conducted a secondary data analysis using a dataset provided by the NC ALE, which contained every ALE citation issued from 2000-2011.

Descriptive statistics were used to explore distribution of alcohol citations, including distributions by demographic factors, county, month, and day of the week. Approximately 52,409 citations were issued by ALE during this time. The majority of the citations were issued to non-Hispanic (96%), white (89%), males (65%). The median age was 19 years old (range 16-94). The months with the most citations were August through October and April. Citations issued on Thursday through Sunday accounted for approximately 87% of all citations issued. The most common types of violations were underage possession of beer/wine (55.5%), providing beer/wine to someone underage (13.6%), and underage possession of liquor (8.8%).

In addition to reporting descriptive trends, subsequent analyses will examine correlations between alcohol-related behaviors and citations. Specifically, we will use publicly available county-specific aggregate Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data to examine correlations between alcohol violations and alcohol-related behaviors, including current alcohol consumption and binge drinking.