- Title
- Do community characteristics predict alcohol-related crime?
- Creator
- Breen, Courtney; Shakeshaft, Anthony; Slade, Tim; Love, Stephanie; D'Este, Catherine; Mattick, Richard P.
- Relation
- Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 46, Issue 4, p. 464-470
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agr040
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2011
- Description
- Aims: Alcohol-related crime is a substantial community problem. There is evidence to suggest that certain geographic areas experience higher rates of alcohol-related crime and that both individual and community factors are associated with alcohol-related crime. There is limited research at the community level despite communities being the target of interventions designed to reduce alcohol-related harm. This study aims to determine whether there are differences in alcohol-related crime at the community level and examines whether certain community characteristics are associated with increased alcohol-related crime. Methods: Routinely collected police data from 20 rural communities in New South Wales, Australia were analysed. The ratio of alcohol to non-alcohol-related criminal incidents was used as a proxy for alcohol-related crime. Predictor variables were population-adjusted community characteristics, including demographic and resource variables. Results: Regression analyses suggest that there are differences between communities in alcohol-related crime. Less socioeconomic disadvantage and more GPs and licensed premises (pubs and clubs) are associated with greater alcohol-related crime at the community level. Conclusions: Decreasing the socioeconomic well-being of a community is not appropriate; however, introducing additional taxes to increase the cost of alcohol may decrease consumption and therefore alcohol-related crime. Reducing or capping the number of licensed premises, specifically the number of pubs and clubs, may be an appropriate strategy to reduce alcohol-related crime in rural communities.
- Subject
- crime; alcohol; New South Wales; communities; prevention
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1066621
- Identifier
- uon:18128
- Identifier
- ISSN:0735-0414
- Language
- eng
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