^aDepartment of Sociology, Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, CT 06226, U.S.A. E-mail: lugow@easternct.edu

¹I thank the late Professor Dennis Roncek for all his helpful comments on each draft of this paper. His thoughtful insights were critical in getting the manuscript in publishable form.

Abstract

Across the United States, cities have begun limiting the number of liquor licenses they issue. Behind such legislation is a belief that the more alcohol outlets there are, the more the problems there will be. However, such a hypothesis has never been rigorously tested. This study will examine a mid-size town with an extremely high density of liquor licenses. Looking at crime data over a 1-year period, and in three different areas, results show that what affects crime the most is not how many liquor licenses there are, but what kinds of licenses exist. Bars that did not promote overconsumption had relatively low crime rates surrounding their establishments, even if they were in a high-density area of alcohol outlets. This is compared to bars that had irresponsible serving practices, all of which had very high crime rates around their establishments.