Analysis of the Relationship Between Assaults and Moby Dick's Bar (A Methodological Review) (From Link Between Crime and the Built Environment, Volume 2, P C434-C438, 1980, by Tetsuro Motoyama et al - See NCJ-79544)

• NCJ Number: 79581
• Author(s): T Motoyama; H Rubenstein; P Hartjens
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 5 pages
• Corporate Author: American Institutes for Research
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Available on microfiche from NCJRS as NCJ-79544.

Annotation

This review assesses the Minnesota Crime Prevention Center's study of the degree to which the crime of assault is associated with Minneapolis' 'Moby Dick's Bar.'

Abstract

Data from Minneapolis police records on assaults from July 1, 1974, through June 30, 1975, were analyzed in relation to their distance from Moby Dick's Bar. The study concluded that there is a clustering of crimes around Moby Dick's Bar and that at least five times as many crimes are associated with the bar than would be expected, given the high crime rate in the area. The data support the descriptive conclusions of the study. The confounding factor--the other 57 bars within the 0.6 radius of the study area--was discussed by the authors but not sufficiently resolved to permit the conclusion that a much larger number of crimes than expected are associated with the area of Moby Dick's Bar. It cannot be doubted that the study has identified a high crime area with many bars. However, the extent to which the bars per se or one in particular is the cause of the crime has not been documented by the research. For the original report, see NCJ 54276.