Lincoln Legal Issues Blog

The impact a person's profession has on their life, Nebraska residents might be surprised to find, includes the possibility of divorce. According to researchers, a person's profession and field of work can have an influence on the likelihood of that person divorcing and beginning a new relationship.

A study by Stockholm University researchers revealed that people who worked in professions involving a lot of socializing and encounters with the opposite sex, such as in the hotel and restaurant industries, had a higher probability of getting a divorce. The researchers also found that the risk of divorce in these types of industries was higher for men than for women. Additionally, education also played a role, as men with a college education were more likely to get divorce, while the inverse was true for women. Interestingly, professions such as librarians and farmers had the lowest risk of divorce.

Law enforcement agencies in Nebraska and across the U.S. are making more marijuana busts, according to a report by the FBI. The arrests are increasing even though multiple states have legalized pot in recent years.

According to the report, there were 659,700 marijuana-related arrests in 2017, compared to 653,249 the year before. That calculates to approximately one pot bust every 48 seconds. Of the marijuana arrests made in 2017, 599,282 were for possession. In comparison, there were 587,516 marijuana possession busts in 2016. Arrests for pot manufacturing and dealing dropped from 65,734 in 2016 to 60,418 in 2017. Overall, pot busts accounted for 40.4 percent of all U.S. drug arrests in 2017.

Nebraska adults who are 50 and older may be divorcing at higher rates than older people in previous generations. Since 1990, the divorce rate for people in that age bracket has doubled, and it is is three times higher than it was in 1990 for people 65 and older.

Experts have speculated about reasons older adults might be divorcing in rising numbers, tying it to the empty nest syndrome after children leave home or to retirement. However, in studies, there was not a correlation between divorce and these events. How satisfied people are with the quality of their marriage appears to be the main predictor of divorce, although there are several other risk factors. For example, first marriages are less likely to end in divorce than subsequent marriages. There is a 60 percent higher chance that a woman whose parents divorced will in turn get a divorce, and for men there is a 35 percent higher chance. Furthermore, the longer a marriage lasts, the less likely it is to end in divorce.

Various Nebraska police agencies have noted that they are planning a strong crackdown on drunk driving as part of several initiatives that have seen widespread citations and warnings. Around St. Patrick's Day, Papillion police distributed 35 citations, and 10 days later, La Vista police announced three DUI arrests within one four-hour period. Law enforcement spokespeople have commented in media interviews and social media posts that they view drunk driving as a major danger on the roads.

Over the years, drunk driving statistics have gone down significantly as the laws have changed; the legal blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) has been lowered, penalties have been increased and ignition interlock devices are now installed on the vehicles of repeat offenders. In Nebraska, car accidents related to alcohol have dropped by more than half since the 1980s and 1990s. However, prosecutions are perhaps more intense than ever. While at one time police may have called a relative for a ride when they found a drunk driver, today there is a clear no-tolerance policy.