NCJ Number
236289
Journal
Drug and Alcohol Review Volume: 30 Issue: 5 Dated: September 2011 Pages: 524-535
Date Published
September 2011
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This ecological, cross-sectional study examined the effect of the number of liquor retail outlets and sales of alcoholic beverages on the risk of assault in Western Australia.
Abstract
The study found that the higher the amount of alcohol sold per off-site outlet the greater the risk of reported assault within a local government area (LGA). This finding held for all types of locations. The volume of alcohol sold apparently had the greatest impact on assault that occurred at private residences. When controlled for volume of alcohol sales, the number of off-site outlets did not significantly predict the risk of assault, even for private residences. The number of off-site outlets was a weak proxy measure for alcohol sales made by these premises. For on-site outlets the findings showed the reverse of that found for off-site outlets i.e., greater numbers of such premises within a LGA predicted greater levels of assault even when controlled for alcohol sales made by these premises. The findings suggest that efforts to improve situational characteristics (e.g., crowding) and movements of patrons in the night-time environment (e.g., discouraging bar-hopping, town planning to reduce the number of on-site outlets within walking distance of each other), rather than a focus on alcoholic beverages purchased on-site (e.g., server training) may be a more efficient approach to curbing violence. For 2000/2001, information was obtained on the type, number, and wholesale alcohol purchases of all licensed outlets, police-reported assault offenses, and socioeconomic/demographic data. Multivariate negative binomial regression was applied to LGAs in order to assess associations between outlet density, alcohol sales, and violence that occurred in both licensed and domestic settings. 1 figure, 3 tables, and 30 references