Ross Homel

Policing and Punishing the Drinking Driver is at one level about the impact of specific drinking-driving countermeasures (punishments imposed by courts on convicted offenders and random breath testing) in a particular place (New South Wales, Australia) in two particular years (1972 and 1983). At another level, however, the research reported herein is concerned with general questions of deterrence, and with the impact of the criminal justice system on the perception and behavior of a broad cross-section of the population. In contrast to much of the research in the drink-drive field, the research questions concentrate on the psychological and sociological processes whereby behavior is altered in the short-term as the result of a massive legal intervention or as the result of the routine imposition of legal punishments.

This book provides a definitive review of knowledge about bar room environments and their regulation, and provides directions for the prevention of aggression, violence and injury in and around public drinking establishments. It shows why drinking establishments are high risk for aggression, why some establishments are riskier than others, the effectiveness of existing interventions and policies, and the importance of better regulatory models for achieving safer drinking establishments. The authors emphasise the need to understand the problem and to tackle it through evidence-based preventive strategies, providing a detailed review of the nature of problem behaviours within the specific context of public drinking establishments - while recognising that these establishments are businesses that operate in diverse communities and cultures. Special attention is paid to the difficulties in implementing and sustaining effective interventions within the kinds of regulatory structures and political and economic climates that currently prevail in western countries. The book draws upon the authors' extensive experience with observational, interview and intervention research related to reducing aggression and injury in drinking establishments, as well as their knowledge of the alcohol field, and of prevention, policing and regulation more generally.

This book provides a definitive review of knowledge about bar room environments and their regulation, and provides directions for the prevention of aggression, violence and injury in and around public drinking establishments. It shows why drinking establishments are high risk for aggression, why some establishments are riskier than others, the effectiveness of existing interventions and policies, and the importance of better regulatory models for achieving safer drinking establishments. The authors emphasise the need to understand the problem and to tackle it through evidence-based preventive strategies, providing a detailed review of the nature of problem behaviours within the specific context of public drinking establishments - while recognising that these establishments are businesses that operate in diverse communities and cultures. Special attention is paid to the difficulties in implementing and sustaining effective interventions within the kinds of regulatory structures and political and economic climates that currently prevail in western countries. The book draws upon the authors' extensive experience with observational, interview and intervention research related to reducing aggression and injury in drinking establishments, as well as their knowledge of the alcohol field, and of prevention, policing and regulation more generally.