Alcohol and Malt Liquor Availability and Promotion and Homicide in Inner Cities

• NCJ Number: 222137
• Journal: Substance Use & Misuse Volume: 43 Issue: 2 Dated: 2008 Pages: 159-177
• Author(s): Rhonda Jones-Webb; Pat McKee; Peter Hannan; Melanie Wall; Lan Pham; Darin Erickson; Alexander Wagenaar
• Date Published: 2008
• Length: 19 pages
• Grant Number(s): R01-AA13839
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using 2003 data from the Malt Liquor and Homicide study, this study examined the role of the alcohol environment (alcohol and malt liquor availability and promotion) as a means of explaining differences in homicide rates among minorities in 10 U.S. cities.

Abstract

The study found that living in an impoverished neighborhood with high concentrations of African-Americans increased the likelihood of being a homicide victim, increased access to malt liquor and other alcoholic beverages, and increased exposure to messages that promote malt liquor consumption. Higher concentrations of African-Americans in neighborhoods under the 1993 Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community Initiative (EZ/EC) were associated with higher homicide rates as well as greater alcohol availability, especially malt liquor availability. The promotion of malt liquor on the outside of storefronts was also significantly greater in African-American neighborhoods than in other neighborhoods. None of the measures representing alcohol or malt liquor availability and promotion, however, changed the effect of neighborhood racial/ethnic concentration on homicide. This does not exclude the possibility that alcohol availability and promotion measures had an indirect effect on homicides. The findings may also reflect the characteristics of EZ/EC neighborhoods, which are relatively homogeneous in terms of poverty and economic distress. Other studies that have examined the effects of alcohol availability on homicide have typically included citywide or countywide data at the census-tract level. The findings of such studies differed from the current study in showing a link between alcohol availability and promotion and homicide rates. Data came from a 3-year ecological study that examined the relationships between neighborhood racial/ethnic concentration, alcohol and malt liquor availability and promotion, and homicide. Inner city neighborhoods studied in California, Minnesota, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Kansas, and Missouri were all designated EZ/EC zones. 3 tables and 51 references