Before the seventeenth century, public intoxication was not, by itself, a crime in England. Drunkenness was punishable as a criminal offense only if it resulted in some form of breach of the peace or disorderly conduct. In 1606, however, in England, simple public intoxication was first made a criminal offense. This English precedent was reflected in some laws in the American colonies as well as in the United States in the city, county, and state laws enacted after the American Revolution. By the early 1960s, about two million arrests occurred annually for simple public intoxication, representing about 33 percent of all arrests in the United States.

Since then, remarkable changes have occurred in the handling of public intoxication. Through efforts initially in the courts and later through federal and state legislation, important steps have been taken to transfer the handling of public intoxication from the criminal-justice system to...