Binge Drinking and Crime: Accounting for Alcohol Availability in Neighborhoods

Background: The relationship between alcohol availability and crime is relatively well established. On the other hand, alcohol availability in neighborhoods may result in excessive alcohol use that is associated with crime, and we know less about the role that binge drinking has in crime. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines binge drinking as "consuming 5 or more drinks on an occasion for men or 4 or more drinks on an occasion for women." Methods: In this study, we gathered Milwaukee, Wisconsin 2021 data on binge drinking from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alcohol outlet and crime data from municipal data registries, and socioeconomic variables that are common predictors of crime from the U.S. Census Bureau. We estimated negative binomial models that control for spatial arrangement of Census tracts, which are used as the unit of analysis to approximate neighborhood boundaries. Results: Our results confirm prior findings that total and on-premises alcohol outlets are positively associated with total, violent, and property crime, net of control variables. Binge drinking in nearby units of analysis is positively associated with overall, total, and property crime, whereas binge drinking in focal units of analysis is negatively associated with crime, including different crime types. Conclusion: Together, the findings suggest simultaneous effects of local alcohol outlets and nearby binge drinking on crime, including different crime types. The findings of this study have important.