Alcohol study shows moderate reductions in alcohol admissions and violent and sexual crimes associated with local alcohol licensing policies

bmj epidemol

 

A news study published in the BMJ Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health  shows there is a moderate reduction in alcohol admission and violent and sexual assaults as a result of local alcohol licensing laws. This study used an innovative methodology to test whether local licensing laws really did have an effect on crimes and alcohol admissions compared to control areas who did not have local alcohol licencing restrictive laws. The authors used Home Office licensing data (2007–2012) to identify (1) interventions: local areas where both a cumulative impact zone and increased licensing enforcement were introduced in 2011; and (2) controls: local areas with neither.

You can access a summary of the study and a PDF of the paper here.