Assessing the impacts of Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol-related crime
Introduction: Saskatchewan's introduction in April 2010 of minimum prices graded by alcohol strength led to an average minimum price increase of 9.1% per Canadian standard drink (=13.45g ethanol). This increase was shown to be associated with reduced consumption and switching to lower alcohol c...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
2016
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/16240 |
| _version_ | 1848749119176179712 |
|---|---|
| author | Stockwell, Tim Zhao, J. Sherk, A. Callaghan, R. Macdonald, S. Gatley, J. |
| author_facet | Stockwell, Tim Zhao, J. Sherk, A. Callaghan, R. Macdonald, S. Gatley, J. |
| author_sort | Stockwell, Tim |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Introduction: Saskatchewan's introduction in April 2010 of minimum prices graded by alcohol strength led to an average minimum price increase of 9.1% per Canadian standard drink (=13.45g ethanol). This increase was shown to be associated with reduced consumption and switching to lower alcohol content beverages. Police also informally reported marked reductions in night-time alcohol-related crime. Objectives: This study aims to assess the impacts of changes to Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol-pricing regulations between 2008 and 2012 on selected crime events often related to alcohol use. Methods: Data were obtained from Canada's Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. Auto-regressive integrated moving average time series models were used to test immediate and lagged associations between minimum price increases and rates of night-time and police identified alcohol-related crimes. Controls were included for simultaneous crime rates in the neighbouring province of Alberta, economic variables, linear trend, seasonality and autoregressive and/or moving-average effects. Results: The introduction of increased minimum-alcohol prices was associated with an abrupt decrease in night-time alcohol-related traffic offences for men (-8.0%, P<0.001), but not women. No significant immediate changes were observed for non-alcohol-related driving offences, disorderly conduct or violence. Significant monthly lagged effects were observed for violent offences (-19.7% at month 4 to -18.2% at month 6), which broadly corresponded to lagged effects in on-premise alcohol sales. Discussion: Increased minimum alcohol prices may contribute to reductions in alcohol-related traffic-related and violent crimes perpetrated by men. Observed lagged effects for violent incidents may be due to a delay in bars passing on increased prices to their customers, perhaps because of inventory stockpiling. [Stockwell T, Zhao J, Sherk A, Callaghan RC, Macdonald S, Gatley J. Assessing the impacts of Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol-related crime. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:15:52Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-16240 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:15:52Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-162402017-09-13T16:09:31Z Assessing the impacts of Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol-related crime Stockwell, Tim Zhao, J. Sherk, A. Callaghan, R. Macdonald, S. Gatley, J. Introduction: Saskatchewan's introduction in April 2010 of minimum prices graded by alcohol strength led to an average minimum price increase of 9.1% per Canadian standard drink (=13.45g ethanol). This increase was shown to be associated with reduced consumption and switching to lower alcohol content beverages. Police also informally reported marked reductions in night-time alcohol-related crime. Objectives: This study aims to assess the impacts of changes to Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol-pricing regulations between 2008 and 2012 on selected crime events often related to alcohol use. Methods: Data were obtained from Canada's Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. Auto-regressive integrated moving average time series models were used to test immediate and lagged associations between minimum price increases and rates of night-time and police identified alcohol-related crimes. Controls were included for simultaneous crime rates in the neighbouring province of Alberta, economic variables, linear trend, seasonality and autoregressive and/or moving-average effects. Results: The introduction of increased minimum-alcohol prices was associated with an abrupt decrease in night-time alcohol-related traffic offences for men (-8.0%, P<0.001), but not women. No significant immediate changes were observed for non-alcohol-related driving offences, disorderly conduct or violence. Significant monthly lagged effects were observed for violent offences (-19.7% at month 4 to -18.2% at month 6), which broadly corresponded to lagged effects in on-premise alcohol sales. Discussion: Increased minimum alcohol prices may contribute to reductions in alcohol-related traffic-related and violent crimes perpetrated by men. Observed lagged effects for violent incidents may be due to a delay in bars passing on increased prices to their customers, perhaps because of inventory stockpiling. [Stockwell T, Zhao J, Sherk A, Callaghan RC, Macdonald S, Gatley J. Assessing the impacts of Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol-related crime. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/16240 10.1111/dar.12471 Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. restricted |
| spellingShingle | Stockwell, Tim Zhao, J. Sherk, A. Callaghan, R. Macdonald, S. Gatley, J. Assessing the impacts of Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol-related crime |
| title | Assessing the impacts of Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol-related crime |
| title_full | Assessing the impacts of Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol-related crime |
| title_fullStr | Assessing the impacts of Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol-related crime |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the impacts of Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol-related crime |
| title_short | Assessing the impacts of Saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol-related crime |
| title_sort | assessing the impacts of saskatchewan's minimum alcohol pricing regulations on alcohol-related crime |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/16240 |