Reducing Violence in Licensed Environments

Aggression and violence in and around drinking establishments remains a significant problem in most parts of the world, especially as the night-time economy expands. In a new monograph, Raising the Bar (2008), Kate Graham and Ross Homel comprehensively reviewed what is known about the causes of aggression in bars, clubs and pubs, drawing to a considerable extent on their own research over the past 20 years. They concluded that while there were some promising approaches there was little scientifically reliable evidence to guide policy. Nor, despite these promising approaches, was there evidence of sustainable reductions of violence in licensed environments. The challenge therefore to the field, appeared to be twofold. First, could a model be developed that was capable of reducing alcohol related violence, and of sustaining those reductions long term? Secondly, could a scientifically defensible research design be developed and operationalised, which could test such a model in a number of different settings, thereby indicating the flexibility of the model while also maintaining experimental and scientific rigour? The Project reported here, intends to meet both these challenges, by developing a rigorous long-term meta-experiment to test a comprehensive prevention model in a variety of licensed environments. The Project proposes to do this over two phases: Phase 1 as a research design period, and Phase 2 as a trial period.

This report contains an account of the Phase 1 of the Project, (conducted between March 2008 and March 2009), which was aimed at achieving two objectives –the development of a comprehensive prevention model capable of reducing alcohol related violence and aggression, and a scientifically defensible research design to test the model in a variety of licensed environments in Australia and New Zealand.

Firstly, drawing on Graham and Homel’s work, and working within a responsive regulation framework, a comprehensive prevention model is devised. It integrates targeted police enforcement (TP) and other regulatory action, as well as staff training using the Safer Bars Program (SB) from Canada, and community mobilization (CM). Utilising a responsive regulation framework allowed the model to be adapted to local conditions at sites selected for the planned trial, and to incorporate action at the levels of self-regulation (empowered through staff training), informal regulation through community monitoring and mobilisation, and formal regulation (police and liquor licensing enforcement). The second objective of Phase 1 of the Project involved the construction of a research design capable of testing the model in a long-term meta-experiment over a five to seven year period, at five different sites.

Site selection involved gathering information about the local night-time economies, as well as interviews with key stakeholders, negotiation of data collection systems, and a review of current policies, regulatory practices, legislation, and the quality of community partnerships. The inner CBD of the City of Melbourne, the Chapel street precinct of the City of Stonnington, the St. Kilda area of the City of Port Phillip (all in Victoria, Australia), the CBD of Mackay, Queensland, and the CBD of the City of Wellington, New Zealand, were selected for more or less intensive and comprehensive interventions depending on their openness to experimentation, their capacity for change, and the availability of local resourcing.

Full report can be downloaded here (pdf 918kb)