Goals:
(1) Develop a measure of the strength of specific alcohol control policies across states.
(2) Measure the state alcohol policy environment using latent variable analyses.
(3) Assess level of enforcement of alcohol policies within each state.
(4) Assess the relationships between the alcohol policy environment and related consequences including alcohol consumption, traffic crash mortality and several other specific types of injury-related deaths, and assess how enforcement levels influence these relationships.



State and Local Alcohol Policies: The Case of Malt Liquor

Funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Principal Investigator: Rhonda Jones-Webb, PhD
Co-Investigators: Traci Toomey, PhD; Darin Erickson, PhD; Toben Nelson, ScD

Goals:  
1) Develop new measures of the restrictiveness of malt liquor policies and other local alcohol policies. 
2) Evaluate the effectiveness of malt liquor policies in reducing crime associated with malt liquor consumption in 19 U.S. cities using an interrupted time-series design with control group. 
3) Assess whether the effects of malt liquor policies on crime vary by the state alcohol policy environment using panel regression models or pooled time-series. 

Spatial and Temporal Effects of Alcohol Compliance Checks

Funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Principal Investigator: Darin Erickson, PhD
Co-Investigators: Bradley Carlin, PhD; Traci Toomey, PhD; Alexander Wagenaar, PhD

The overall goal of this project was to assess whether a pattern of law enforcement compliance checks exists that maximizes effects of the checks for reducing illegal alcohol sales to underage youth. We assessed effects of the temporal frequency of compliance checks (e.g., every 2 months, every 6 months), the spatial frequency of compliance checks (e.g., every establishment, one establishment per block), as well as a possible interaction between the two (e.g., every establishment at least once a year with a nearby establishment every three months).

Assessing Density of Alcohol Outlets, Other Outlets and Crime

Funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Principal Investigator: Traci Toomey, PhD
Co-Investigators: Bradley Carlin, PhD; Darin Erickson, PhD; Eileen Harwood, PhD

Goals:
The goal of this two-year study was to evaluate whether the density of alcohol establishments is related to alcohol-related crime and whether the presence of other physical structures (e.g., non-alcohol businesses, parks) and levels of neighborhood activism moderate this effect. In one Midwestern city we assessed whether: (1) densities of different types of alcohol establishments were positively related to a wide range of alcohol-related crimes; (2) densities of non-alcohol businesses and other neighborhood physical structures (i.e., parks, schools, and religious institutions), and levels of neighborhood activism were associated with crime rates; and (3) these neighborhood structures and activism moderate the observed associations between densities of alcohol establishments and different types of crime.

Publications:
11.6.186 Toomey TL, Erickson DJ, Carlin BP, Quick HS, Harwood EM, Lenk KM, Ecklund AM. Is the density of alcohol establishments related to nonviolent crime? Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 73(1):21-25, 2012.

11.6.189 Toomey TL, Erickson DJ, Carlin BP, Lenk KM, Quick HS, Jones A. Harwood EM. The association between density of alcohol establishments and violent crime within urban neighborhoods. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 36(8):1468-1473, 2012.