Alcohol, Nightclubs, and College Students: A Lethal Cocktail

Drugs and alcohol are the most common substancesagainst young women after a night on the town. An
abused by teenagers. Alcoholism, also know asexamination of recent crime statistics shows that
alcohol dependence, has symptoms such as craving,New York City is at its safest in recent memory.
loss of control, loss of memory, physical dependence,However, the discovery of another dead student
and increasing tolerance. Approximately, 10 millionsuggests that it is not very safe for young women
current drinkers are under the age of 21, about 4drinking in nightclubs and bars late at night.This latest
million are binge drinkers; including 2 million who arevictim of New York City night life is Jennifer Moore,
heavy drinkers all of them are between the ages of18-year old, of Harrington Park, New Jersey. Jennifer
16-21 years old.One in three college students nowMoore was murdered just five months after a
drinks solely to get drunk. About 30% of women infemale graduate student went missing after leaving a
college reported poor grades with the increased usepopular bar in SoHo. The student, Imette St. Guillen
of alcohol and drugs, and 60% of college women24, had been drinking alone, in a bar called the Falls,
diagnosed with a sexually transmitted diseaseuntil closing time. Her naked body was discovered the
contacted while they were drunk.The absence ofnext day wrapped in a quilt in a swampy area near
ongoing oversight by parents and caretakers offersBelt Parkway in Brooklyn New York. Darryl Littlejohn
college students the freedom to makes choices,41, a bouncer employed at the Falls a career criminal,
develop personality, and to engage in socialhad been charged with the murder. Draymond
experiment. These are all natural and necessary pathColeman, 34, another career criminal, and a pimp is
to adulthood. However, the road to adulthood alsoaccused of beating and strangling Jennifer Moore to
create an environment that is susceptible to crimedeath inside a Weekhawken hotel. Her body was
and victimization. Which may include opportunity forfound in a trash bin in a parking lot, in a squalid area in
drug and alcohol abuse, sexual assault, and hateNew Jersey across the Hudson River, West New
crimes all common on today's college campuses andYork.Further research and we find other cases of
the surrounding communities.Statistics that supportsimilar circumstances involving alcohol and the murder
the wide-spread use and abuse of alcohol byof young women. Last October, Tabitha Perez, a 24
teenagers and college students are readily available.year old saleswoman from the Bronx, was shot and
This is also true for alcohol-related crimes andkilled outside the Viva a bar in upper Manhattan. In
anti-social behaviors on college campuses across theApril, a 21- year-old woman from Newark, New
nation. However, statistics on crimes against collegeJersey, Jessica Martinez, was struck by a car while
students, especially women, off campus are not socrossing the West Side Highway after leaving a
available. In many large urban cities bars andnearby nightclub where she had been drinking.
nightclubs are increasing at a very rapid pace; andAnother New Jersey college student, Mark Fisher, 19,
their economic survival depends successfully reachingwas killed in 2003 after a night of partying in
out to the younger patrons, including college students.Manhattan and Brooklyn, ending with him alone
These establishments act as a magnet for manyamong strangers, two of whom were convicted in
college students who find them more attracted thanthe robbery and murder.According to recent studies,
the traditional college hing-out. The problem is thatNew York City has been under the spotlight due to a
many of these nightspots are hunting grounds forsharp increase in bars and nightclubs, but a greater
hard-core criminals, pimps and predators seekingnumber of homicides occur in other boroughs.
susceptible and available victims, especially thoseShootings on Saturday nights outside nightclubs in less
under the influence of alcohol.A recent study showedaffluent neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn, and the
that intoxicated people are more vulnerable to violentBronx is a regular occurrence.Andrew Karmen, a
crime because they exhibit more risk-takingsociology professor at John Jay College of Criminal
behaviors. For example, they are more likely to goJustice, said that "the drug most implicated with
out alone at night, visit places where violence is mostviolence is alcohol." Being under the influence of
likely to occur, and intoxicated individuals havealcohol has been shown numerous times to raise the
impaired cognitive problem-solving abilities. In otherrisk of being either a victim or an offender.Dr. William
words, these individuals will go places and things thatSmith is a psychologist and personal consultant with
they sober peers would not do; or they would notover 30 years experience working with groups and
do when sober.While doing the research for thisindividuals. Dr. Smith had many successes working,
article, the local television news station announcedonline, with Adult Children of Alcoholic, Survivors of
that the police had recover the body of the collegeIncest, and other Sexual Trauma, Relationship
student who was reported missing, three days agoProblems...Including all forms of quality of life issues. If
after a night of drinking at a popular New York Cityyou have a very personal issue that you feel
nightclub. In the past few years New York Cityprofessional consultation is needed...Dr.
seems to have more than its share of violent acts