NCJ Number
79575
Date Published
1980
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This review assesses a study by Minnesota's Governor's Commission on Crime Prevention and Control which involved a preliminary analysis of the relationship between crime and the location of establishments with 'on sale' liquor licenses (bars).
Abstract
Six census tracts in Minneapolis were selected non-randomly for inclusion in the study. Archival crime data for July 1974 to June 1975 were analyzed. The locations of crimes during this period were plotted on a map, and their distances from 'on sale' establishments were measured to determine whether a clustering of crimes was occurring around these establishments. Crime data were expressed as 'per opportunity' and took into account the number of bars and other places of opportunity at varying distances from the bar under study. The type of 'on sale' license, the proximity of bars to commercial strips, and the possible differences in reporting rates were incorporated as intervening variables, and their effects on the dependent variables were assessed. The study concluded that there is a clustering of assaults and other crimes around 'on sale' license establishments, that places selling beer have a slightly higher clustering of crimes around them than establishments selling liquor, and that the causal mechanism that accounts for crime clustering around bars is not known. Although these conclusions are supported by the data, the statistical validity of the conclusions is limited because of the poor operationalization of the independent and dependent variables. Because of the descriptive nature of the study, no causal connection between the location of 'on sale' license establishments and crime can be made. Further, the nonrandom nature and small sample size limit the generalizability of the findings; however, the study is another in a series of reports consistently showing higher densities of crime in areas with beer and liquor establishments. (Author summary modified)