Headline: RESEARCHER
CONNECTS LIQUOR STORES, CRIME RATE
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman
Publication: ST.
LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Fri., Mar. 31, 1995
Section: WAR PAGE, Page: 5B, Edition: FIVE STAR
A LOUISIANA STATE
University Medical Center researcher has found what some have long suspected
- that the number of liquor stores in a community has a direct relationship
to the rate of violent crime.
Richard
A. Scribner, a criminologist at the university in New Orleans, bases his conclusion
on a study of 74 cities in Los Angeles County in which he and other researchers
calculated the number of liquor outlets and the numbers of murders, rapes, robberies
and assaults in 1990.
According to the study, published Wednesday in the American Journal
of Public Health, a city of 50,000 with 100 liquor stores and 570 outbreaks
of violent crime a year can expect the increase of one liquor store to account
for 3.4 more violent offenses.
Scribner told
me by phone that one reason for the research was to help communities in their
efforts to fight crime. "If you have that kind of information before you,
it makes it easier to come up with ordinances to battle the problems, "
he said.
"We
are all affected by what's around us, by the social institutions for our neighborhoods,
" he said. "If a child grows up in a neighborhood where the dominant
institution is the liquor store, that child will accept what he sees as the
norm, including drunkenness and regular outbreaks of fights. Over a period of
time, the culture of this dominant institution will come to affect the community
norms and values."
Scribner said
that alcohol is involved in more than 50 percent of all assault-related crimes.
In addition to regular aggression, Scribner said, alcohol causes an increase
in what he calls "defensive" aggression.
"That's
where people vegetate on one thought and can't get over it, " he said.
"Someone did something or disrespected the person in some way, and the
person drinking sulks about it and drinks more. They often become more violent
at this point."
Scribner
said liquor outlets are spots where potential victims and potential offenders
come together - often with explosive consequences.
Scribner, who
did his research while at the University of Southern California, noted that
in the 1992 riots of South Central Los Angeles, 256 liquor outlets had been
burned.
"Since
then, there's been a halt of the rebuilding of most of them, " he said.
"The community there has fought to keep them out, and a result is that
crime is down there."
I checked with the St. Louis Police Department to see if the people there saw any similarities here. Assistant Police Chief Charles McCrary said that while liquor stores were often nuisances, he had seen no direct correlation here between violent crime and alcohol. "We find that liquor stores often bring undesirables, like dope pushers and winos, " he said. "They're often an eyesore and lower property values. But I can't substantiate the report."
On the other hand,
Bob Kraiberg, the city's excise commissioner, said he wasn't surprised by the
study's results. He noted that his office had been working for several years
to improve the situation here.
"From
the time I got here, one of our objectives has been to reduce the number of
package liquor stores here, " he said. "What I found when I got here
was that there were twice as many liquor stores north than south. And there's
no question that crimes were popping up around those liquor stores."
A
task force put together in 1989 recommended that the city give much more power
to those who live in neighborhoods. The recommendation was adopted. While residents
still have little say over stores with existing liquor licenses, they have a
great deal to say about who gets new licenses in their neighborhoods.
Another task force
formed a couple of years ago changed the criteria for issuing new liquor licenses.
Any store seeking such a license now must have:
A minimum of 1,500 square feet for sales.
Handle the sale of 750 products other than liquor, tobacco and
automotive products.
Make wholesale purchases of at least $5,000 a month other than
liquor, tobacco and automotive products.
"Those
rules effectively prevent the addition of more liquor stores, " he said.
The changes have
had an effect. In 1986, institutions that had liquor licenses totaled 1,348.
That number included bars as well as package liquor stores. Today, 1,059 institutions
have them.
"I
think we're going in the direction of what people want, " Kraiberg said.
"They don't want so many liquor stores and all the problems that go with
them. We're trying to help in that regard."
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Gregory Freeman's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Friday ...
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