Merging Social Control and Criminal Law in Small Eskimo Villages in Alaska — Can It Be Done? The Portrait of the Inner Logic of Social Control Governing Drinking Behavior and Its Relationship to Criminal Law Process

Abstract

The legal reaction by Yup'ik and Inupiat Eskimos in Alaska to drunken behavior has changed over time from one that penalizes drunkenness to one that seeks to prevent drinking. This new therapeutic approach interferes with any preemptive aggressive response by persons seeking to control an intoxicated person. Moreover, since the law perceives an intoxicated person as sick rather than bad, the traditional perception that an intoxicated person is not his normal self may be reinforced by the law. Indeed, a drunken person may act aggressively without fear of later community blame. The author concludes that the law should re-orient Native community members to understand that there is a connection between the sober and intoxicated self.