Alcohol and crime: the unspoken truth and the practical policy solutions for prevention Robert Nash Parker University of California

Alcohol and Violence: the unspoken yet well known truth Violence is caused in part by alcohol Alcohol makes violence worse than it might be otherwise Alcohol control and regulation can be used to prevent Violence

The practical and the possible Research from “Alcohol and Violence: The nature of the relationship and the Possibility of Prevention” Look for this new book in 2010 Preview of several chapters today A look at some new research on alcohol and assault in Canada

Minimum Drinking Age US has a uniform 21 age minimum age of legal purchase In the 1970s, many US states had younger ages Late 1970s to mid 1980s, all states were encouraged (forced) to adopt 21 What was the impact on violence?

Increasing the minimum age of purchase and youth homicide Data for 49 states and DC, Before and after critical period First state enacted 21 (Minnesota); US Federal Government essentially forces 21 uniformity Broad consideration of predictors including: Taxes on Beer Increases in minimum age Prices of alcohol

Increasing the minimum age of purchase and youth homicide Results indicate: Minimum age increase prior to 1984 decrease youth homicide The Higher beer taxes, the lower youth homicide Despite rising youth homicide rates during the period, evidence that alcohol policy can reduce youth violence

Availability of alcohol and youth violence Although alcohol is not supposed to be available to those under 21, youth are able to obtain with reliability in many communities Studies in US show that 55% to 80% of the time, youth are able to buy alcohol directly in retail establishments What would happen to youth violence if alcohol availability went down?

Availability of Alcohol and youth violence Three year study in Small Northern California Community In the second year of the study, City decided to remove alcohol outlets in 6 neighborhoods (out of 35; 12 outlets closed) Youth violence measured from police data for offenders and victims, 12-24

Availability of Alcohol and youth Violence Natural experiment: Net of other factors, the places where availability was reduced had significantly lower rates of youth violence Causal effect powerfully demonstrated

Availability, Enforcement, and youth gang activity Minimum Age of purchase is also about enforcement as well as setting minimum age and availability Is enforcement a useful tool for prevention of youth violence? Tested the idea with gang violence, a most difficult target for policy intervention

Availability, Enforcement, and youth gang activity Using Pseudo-Under age buyer sting 21 years olds who look young Attempt to buy after an intervention Findings: Only 24% successful Neighborhoods with more successful buys had higher gang violence net of other predictors Unspoken Truth: Enforcement of minimum purchase laws reduces violence

Alcohol Advertising and a specific type of youth violence Similar study in another Northern California Community Why would the industry spend so much money on advertising if the only impact was to get adults to switch brands? Unspoken truth that everyone knows: They would not!

Alcohol Advertising and a Specific Type of Youth Violence Measured the content of advertising in local retail outlets with trained observers Among the most common content: Sexually explicit, commodifying, and exploitative ads featuring women in provocative and near pornographic poses We measured assault and sexual assault, overall advertising and sexually explicit advertising rates

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Alcohol Advertising and a specific type of youth violence Findings: Controlling for relevant factors: Advertising in general did not impact assault or sexual assault Sexually explicit advertising raised the rate of sexual assault, but not other assaults These findings were net of overall outlet density; they were also ethnic specific More ads with Latina models, more Latina girls were sexually assaulted

Unintended truths: Alcohol prevention impacts violence Community Trials Study Conducted by the Prevention Research Center, Berkeley (PIRE) Led by Harold Holder, one of the world’s leading experts on Alcohol and Prevention Designed to impact drunk driving, pedestrian accidents, falls, burns, fires, etc: everything but violence Question: Did these multi faceted and coordinated interventions impact violence?

Unintended Truths: Alcohol Prevention Impacts violence Time series analyses of all three experimental sites showed that: The timing of a number of different types of interventions led to lower violent crime rates 1 to 3 months later The volume of interventions reduced violent crime 2 to 3 months later

Alcohol and Assault: the Canadian Truth New study: International Project on Alcohol and Assault Purpose is to assemble a massive set of evidence from 20, 30 or more countries, cities, provinces, using time series methods To prove beyond a shadow of doubt that alcohol causes assault Use these results to convince governments at all levels to pursue alcohol control and regulation as a means to lower numbers and costs of violent crime

Alcohol and Assault: the Canadian Truth Time Series analysis shows a lagged causal relationship between Assaults and Spirits consumption, between 1950 and 1999 Similar to results from Republic of Ireland and the United States Assault impacts more than 200,000 Canadians (2007) a year

Alcohol and Violence: The Spoken Truth Alcohol related violence can be prevented Existing regulations on Alcohol can be used to achieve substantial reductions Many of the interventions discussed here can be achieved with little or no expenditure of funds Why would Anyone be Opposed to this?

More about Alcohol and violence: Policy, research, reading International Sociological Association Research Committee 29 World Congress of Sociology Gothenberg, Sweden, July 2010 Deadline December 1, 2009 Abstracts URL: sociology.org/congress2010/rc/rc29.htm

More about Alcohol and violence: Policy, research, reading Meeting on Alcohol and Violence in Melbourne, Australia, March 2010 Sponsored by the Kettil Bruun Society Hosted by Robin Room and Turning Point November 1, 2009 deadline extended for Abstracts URL: Melb.htm

More about Alcohol and violence: Policy, research, reading Alcohol Policy 15 Washington DC, December Tom Colthurst: URL: x.htm

Finally: Look for a new book on alcohol and violence in 2010 Alcohol and Violence: The Nature of the Relationship and the Promise of Prevention Robert Nash Parker me, for more