(The following is part of an article that appeared in Science Daily, 2/22/10

More alcohol sales sites in a neighborhood equate to more violence, and the highest assault rates associated with carry-out sites selling alcohol for off-premise consumption, according to a new research released February 21, but two Indiana University professors.

Using crime statistics and alcohol outlet licensing data from Cincinnati, Ohio, to examine the spatial relationship between alcohol outlet density and assault density. Department Of criminal Justice Prof. William Alex Pridemore and Department of Geography professor Tony Grubesic found that off-premise outlets appeared to be responsible for about one in four simple assaults and one in three aggravated assaults.

The findings were released at a press briefing entitled "Using Geographic Information Systems And Spatial Analysis to Better Understanding Patterns and Causes of Violence" and presented as part of the February 18-22 annual meeting all the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego, California.

"A higher density of alcohol sales outlets in an area means closer proximity and availability to an intoxicating substance for residents," Pridemore said. "Perhaps just as importantly, alcohol outlets provide a greater number of potentially deviant places. Convenience stores licensed to sell alcohol may be especially troublesome in this regard, as they often serve not only as sources of alcohol, but also as local gathering places with little formal social control"

Using different suites of spatial regression models, the researchers found adding one off-premise alcohol sales site per square mile would create 2.3 more simple assaults and 0.6 more aggravated assaults per square mile. Increase in violence associated with restaurants and bars were smaller but still statistically significant, with 1.15 more simple assaults created when adding one restaurant per square mile, and 1.35 more simple assaults per square mile by adding one bar.

"We could expect a reduction of about one quarter in simple assaults and nearly 1/3 in aggravated assaults in our sample of Cincinnati block groups, were alcohol outlets removed entirely," Grubesic noted, "these represent substantial reductions and clearly reveal the impact of alcohol outlet density on assault density in our sample."