Neighborhood Alcohol Outlets and the Association with Violent Crime in One Mid-Atlantic City: The Implications for Zoning Policy

Abstract

Violent crime such as homicide causes significant excess morbidity and mortality in US urban areas. A health impact assessment (HIA) identified zoning policy related to alcohol outlets as one way to decrease violent crime. The objectives were to determine the relationship between alcohol outlets including off-premise alcohol outlets and violent crime in one urban area to provide local public health evidence to inform a zoning code rewrite. An ecologic analysis of census tracts in Baltimore City was conducted from 2011 to 2012. The data included violent crimes (n=51,942) from 2006 to 2010, licensed alcohol outlets establishments (n=1,327) from 2005 to 2006, and data on neighborhood disadvantage, percent minority, percent occupancy, and drug arrests from 2005 to 2009. Negative binomial regression models were used to determine the relationship between the counts of alcohol outlets and violent crimes controlling for other factors. Spatial correlation was assessed and regression inference adjusted accordingly. Each one-unit increase in the number of alcohol outlets was associated with a 2.2 % increase in the count of violent crimes adjusting for neighborhood disadvantage, percent minority, percent occupancy, drug arrests, and spatial dependence (IRR=1.022, 95 % CI=1.015, 1.028). Off-premise alcohol outlets were significantly associated with violent crime in the adjusted model (IRR= 1.048, 95 % CI=1.035, 1.061). Generating Baltimore-specific estimates of the relationship between alcohol outlets and violent crime has been central to supporting the incorporation of alcohol outlet policies in the zoning code rewrite being conducted in Baltimore City.

Not in My Back Yard: A Comparative Analysis of Crime Around Publicly Funded Drug Treatment Centers, Liquor Stores, Convenience Stores, and Corner Stores in One Mid-Atlantic City

“…In contrast, liquor stores had elevated mean rates of crime compared with all the other venue types, and the rate of decrease in crime as you moved away from liquor stores was signifi cantly faster than it was for corner stores and treatment centers. This supports the notion that liquor stores are magnets for crime and is consistent with the results of other published studies that have found associations between the presence of liquor stores and elevated rates of violent crime proximal to the store (Gruenewald & Remer, 2006;Jennings et al, 2014;LaVeist & Wallace, 2000;Lipton et al, 2013;Scribner et al, 1995).…”

“…Each one-unit increase in the Neighborhood Disadvantage score is equivalent to an increase of 10 percentage points for each component item of the index (Franklin et al, 2010;Jennings et al, 2014;Ross & Mirowsky, 2001). The total score has a possible range from -5 to +5, where -5 is very low/little disadvantage and +5 is very severe disadvantage.…”

Access to alcohol and binge drinking among vocational college students: A multilevel study in a tourist destination province of Thailand

“…In addition to having negative consequences at the individual level, the increasing number of alcohol outlets in communities may have a negative impact on family members due to alcohol-related violence and crime (Cunradi, Mair, Ponicki, & Remer, 2011;Jennings et al, 2014;Lipton et al, 2013). A study in New Zealand found an association between binge drinking and the density of off-license liquor outlets within easy walking distance of home, with a 4% increase in the odds of binge drinking for every additional outlet (Connor, Kypri, Bell, & Cousins, 2011).…”

The Negative Effects of Alcohol Establishment Size and Proximity on the Frequency of Violent and Disorder Crime across Block Groups of Victoria, British Columbia

“…Areas of lower socio-economic status, and higher ethnic diversity moderate the alcohol-crime relationship, and tend to experience a greater frequency of crime occurrences [20,37,[77][78][79].…”