Alcohol availability and youth homicide in the 91 largest US cities, 1984–2006

Abstract

The aggregate relationship between homicide and alcohol availability is well established across a number of national and sub-national settings in North America, Europe and some parts of Asia. However, results linking youth homicide and alcohol availability at the retail level are largely absent from the literature, especially at the city level and across longer time periods. In a multivariate, pooled time series and cross-section study, youth homicide offending rates for two age groups, 13-17 and 18-24, were analysed for the 91 largest cities in the USA between 1984 and 2006. Data for social and economic characteristics, drug use, street gang activity and gun availability were also used as time series measures. Data on the availability of alcohol for each city were gathered from the US Census of Economic Activity, which is conducted every 5 years. These data were used to construct an annual time series for the density of retail alcohol outlets in each city. Results indicated that net of other variables, several of which had significant impacts on youth homicide, the density of alcohol outlets had a significant positive effect on youth homicide for those aged 13-17 and 18-24. Such positive effects have been found for adults in national and neighbourhood level studies, but this is the first study to report such evidence for teenagers and young adults. An important policy implication of these findings is that the reduction of the density of retail alcohol outlets in a city may be an effective tool for violent crime reduction among such youth.

Associations between alcohol outlets and emergency department injury presentations: effects of distance from the central business district

“…If a high proportion of the alcohol‐related injuries presenting at EDs from residents of this zone were the result of road crashes, this would result in a higher count of off‐site outlets being associated with reduced injury risk. Previous research has showed varying associations between off‐premise outlet density and different alcohol‐related harms: no significant positive associations in some studies; 42 significant positive associations in other studies; 43–46 and negative associations in others; 6 indicating that these associations may be location‐specific.…”

The Role of Alcohol Policies in Preventing Intimate Partner Violence: A Review of the Literature

“…Looking beyond IPV-specific outcomes, studies conducted across the U.S. have identified that greater alcohol outlet density is associated with higher violent crime rates, even when controlling for sociodemographic variables (Freisthler et al, 2005;Gorman et al, 2001;Gruenwald et al, 2006;Lipton and Gruenewald, 2002;Parker et al, 2011;Reid et al, 2003;Scribner et al, 1995;Scribner et al, 1999;Toomey et al, 2012;Zhu et al, 2004). International research conducted in Australia and Norway has also produced consistent findings on the relationship between alcohol outlet density and general violence.…”

“…However, findings on outlet type appear inconsistent, with some studies suggesting that higher density of on-premise outlets predicts IPV (Cunradi et al, 2012a;McKinney et al, 2009) and others suggesting that off-premise outlets are more directly related to IPV (Cunradi et al, 2011;Livingston, 2010). Although no specific patterns are evident, the inconsistent findings may result from differences in IPV data sources or different types of licenses and definitions used for off-premise versus on-premise outlets.Looking beyond IPV-specific outcomes, studies conducted across the U.S. have identified that greater alcohol outlet density is associated with higher violent crime rates, even when controlling for sociodemographic variables (Freisthler et al, 2005;Gorman et al, 2001; Gruenwald et al, 2006;Lipton and Gruenewald, 2002;Parker et al, 2011;Reid et al, 2003;Scribner et al, 1995;Scribner et al, 1999;Toomey et al, 2012;Zhu et al, 2004). International research conducted in Australia and Norway has also produced consistent findings on the relationship between alcohol outlet density and (Livingston, 2008;Livingston, 2011b;Norstrom, 2000).…”

The Role of Alcohol Policies in Preventing Intimate Partner Violence: A Review of the Literature

“…Looking beyond IPV-specific outcomes, studies conducted across the U.S. have identified that greater alcohol outlet density is associated with higher violent crime rates, even when controlling for sociodemographic variables (Freisthler et al, 2005; Gorman et al, 2001; Gruenewald and Remer, 2006; Gruenwald et al, 2006; Lipton and Gruenewald, 2002; Parker et al, 2011; Reid et al, 2003; Scribner et al, 1995; Scribner et al, 1999; Toomey et al, 2012; Zhu et al, 2004). International research conducted in Australia and Norway has also produced consistent findings on the relationship between alcohol outlet density and general violence.…”