Data were collected by means of questionnaires administered to 342 residents of a public juvenile facility in the summer of 1979. Analyses were performed separately for each racial subgroup including blacks, whites and hispanics. Based on simple correlation, the results show that among each subgroup, drinking is strongly associated with minor juvenile offenses. However, the correlation between drinking and serious offenses is strong only for blacks and whites. Multiple regression further reveals that relative to other background and behavioral factors, drinking is the strongest single predictor of criminal offenses among blacks, with less importance for whites and little importance for hispanics. Implications for prevention are discussed. (Publisher abstract)