§ 24.01 Intoxication and the Criminal Law: An Overview

§ 24.01 Intoxication and the Criminal Law: An Overview¹

[A] "Intoxication": Definition

The term "intoxication" may be defined as a "disturbance of mental or physical capacities resulting from the introduction of any substance into the body."² As this definition suggests, the law pertaining to intoxication does not distinguish between alcohol and other foreign substances, including prescribed medications and illegal drugs.

[B] Intoxication Law in Its Social and Historical Context

Intoxicants distort judgment. They also reduce an actor's ability to control his aggressive feelings and antisocial impulses, often resulting in criminal conduct, especially of a violent nature.³ Persons addicted to narcotics, as well, often commit crimes (even when not intoxicated) in order to support their illegal habit.

In light of the social damage caused by intoxicated actors, it is not surprising that Anglo-American law is unsympathetic to those who seek to avoid criminal responsibility by claiming, "I was intoxicated." The common law has provided wrongdoers very little opportunity to avoid conviction on the basis of intoxication, and the modern legislative trend is to reduce the scope of any intoxication defense still further.⁴ It is not too far off the mark to quote a Latin maxim, qui peccat ebrius, luat sibrius, which (for those not Latin-proficient) can loosely be translated as "he who offends while drunk suffers punishment when sober."⁵ Although there are a few circumstances in which intoxication will serve to exculpate, the law does not look fondly upon intoxicated actors.

[C] Intoxication Cases: Issues to Consider

When a defendant is intoxicated at the time of the alleged criminal conduct, a lawyer must consider at least three questions. First, how did the defendant become intoxicated? Intoxication law is divisible into two general categories: rules pertaining to conduct that was the result of "voluntary" (or "self-induced") intoxication, and the law pertaining to "involuntary" (or "innocent") intoxication. The vast majority of cases concern the former condition.

Second, in what way does the defendant claim that his intoxication affected his culpability? In almost all cases, the actor claims that he did not form the statutorily required state of mind to be convicted of the offense. Occasionally, however, the defendant's intoxication is so severe that he may seek to show that he was unconscious when he acted, i.e., that his conduct did not include a voluntary act. Or...