The first article provides an overview of trends in alcohol use prior to violent crime. It examines individual, situational, and sociocultural influences that may help explain the link between alcohol and violence. This is followed by a review of current research approaches for the investigation of the relationship between alcohol and violence. The third article describes a controlled experimental method known as the competitive reaction-time paradigm, which tests the effect of alcohol or other drugs on human aggressive behavior. Another study explores the interactions between alcohol, serotonin, and aggression. The fifth article examines the influence of various contexts -- including alcohol consumption patterns, divorce, and poverty -- on homicide as well as the impact of particular contexts of social setting on victimization. Remaining articles focus on alcohol abuse, mental illness, and violence; risk factors for suicide among alcoholics; family violence and women's alcohol use; alcohol and aggression among youth; alcohol availability and violent crime; alcohol use by prisoners; alcohol and violent injury; and genetic/metabolic determinants of alcoholism. References and tabular data accompany the articles.