Keywords: alcohol, spatial analysis, geography, crime
On-premise alcohol availability is associated with numerous negative outcomes including underage drinking, impaired driving and in particular, alcohol-related violence. Presently, measures of alcohol availability are in the form of counts of outlets adjusted for population size or density, the road network or geographic area. Unfortunately, these measures do not take into account the volume of alcohol sales and can only be differentiated by alcohol sales license type and in some cases the physical size of the establishment. Sale volumes for alcohol by establishment (typically unavailable from Alcohol and Beverage Control bureaus) can serve as a magnitude parameter for models in order to adjust for the size of the establishment’s role in the alcohol environment. However, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts provides detailed tax information to the public through an Open Data portal, including monthly data on Mixed Beverage Gross Receipts Tax Receipts. These data provide an opportunity to investigate the role that the volume of alcohol sales, beyond simply the presence of an outlet, plays in influencing criminal activity in the proximity of outlet locations.
The research focuses on the cities of Austin and San Antonio, Texas and integrates spatially and temporally discrete as well as aggregated crime data into spatial models of alcohol availability weighted by alcohol sales volume. A variety of spatial methods will be implemented to evaluate the role that alcohol sales volume plays in influencing criminal activity, including modelling spatial clusters of availability (e.g. bar strips and entertainment districts) and their potential to have additional impacts on crime outcomes.