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The greater the number of bars in a neighborhood, the higher the rates of assault |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Results indicate the greater the density of alcohol outlets, especially bars, the higher the rates of assault. Roughly 15 years of research has shown that the availability of alcohol -- as measured by the number and types of alcohol outlets -- is directly related to interpersonal violence. A longitudinal study spanning six years is the first of its kind to use overnight hospital stays to reexamine the influence of alcohol outlets upon violent assaults. "Hospital discharges are carefully tracked throughout the state of California and provide accurate assessments of causes of injury," said Paul J. Gruenewald, senior research scientist at the Prevention Research Center. About one out of 10 assaults recorded by police are severe enough to require hospitalization. Using hospital-discharge data on violent assaults rather than crime reports from law enforcement officials also helps to control reporting biases, added Richard Scribner, professor of preventive medicine at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. "For example, residents of a neighborhood with high levels of police mistrust might be unlikely to report an assault." Researchers collected six years' worth of data from 581 consistently defined zip-code areas in California. "For those individuals with some predisposition to violence, such as young males living in impoverished areas, this is enough to increase violence rates. In addition, high concentrations of off-premise alcohol outlets tend to occur in communities with lower levels of social control, where a variety of other crimes occur -- such as illegal drug sales and prostitution -- that are related to violence." "These findings are significant from a prevention standpoint because alcohol outlets represent a modifiable characteristic of the community environment," continued Scribner.
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