Alcohol availability and youth homicide in the 91 largest US cities, 1984–2006 ROBERT N. PARKER 1 , KIRK R. WILLIAMS 1 , KEVIN J. MCCAFFREE 1 , EMILY K. ACENSIO 2 , ANGELA BROWNE 3 , KEVIN J. STROM 4 & KELLE BARRICK 4 1 Presley Center and Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside, USA, 2 Department of Sociology, University of Akron, Akron, USA, 3 Vera Institute of Justice,Washington, DC, USA, and 4 RTI International, Research Triangle Park, USA Abstract The aggregate relationship between homicide and alcohol availability is well established across a number of national and sub-national settings in North America, Europe and some parts of Asia. However, results linking youth homicide and alcohol availability at the retail level are largely absent from the literature, especially at the city level and across longer time periods. In a multivariate, pooled time series and cross-section study, youth homicide offending rates for two age groups, 13–17 and 18–24, were analysed for the 91 largest cities in the USA between 1984 and 2006. Data for social and economic characteristics, drug use, street gang activity and gun availability were also used as time series measures. Data on the availability of alcohol for each city were gathered from the US Census of Economic Activity, which is conducted every 5 years.These data were used to construct an annual time series for the density of retail alcohol outlets in each city. Results indicated that net of other variables, several of which had significant impacts on youth homicide, the density of alcohol outlets had a significant positive effect on youth homicide for those aged 13–17 and 18–24.Such positive effects have been found for adults in national and neighbourhood level studies, but this is the first study to report such evidence for teenagers and young adults. An important policy implication of these findings is that the reduction of the density of retail alcohol outlets in a city may be an effective tool for violent crime reduction among such youth. [Parker RN, Williams KR, McCaffree KJ, Acensio EK, Browne A, Strom KJ, Barrick K. Alcohol availability and youth homicide in the 91 largest US cities, 1984–2006. Drug Alcohol Rev 2011;30:505–514] Key words: alcohol availability, youth violence, homicide. Introduction Most previous studies of youth homicide analysed trends at the national level [1–3] or assessed whether city characteristics accounted for intercity variation of youth homicide rates [4,5]. Only recently have studies empiri- cally examined within-city changes (i.e. trends) in homi- cide rates over time and determined whether city characteristics account for variations in those trends [6,7]. However, although Baumer [7] disaggregated homicide rates, comparing those involving youth versus adults, no study has focused exclusively on intercity variation in youth homicide trends. Absent from these recent studies is the integration of alcohol availability (i.e. the density of alcohol outlets), despite the burgeon- ing research literature showing relatively strong estimated effects of alcohol availability and crime, including homicide rates [8–14]. Granted, Baumer [7] included a proxy for alcohol consumption (i.e. the per cent of traffic fatalities involving a drunk driver), but he found no statistically significant estimated effects on trends in youth or adult homicide. The present study addresses this gap in the homicide research literature by focusing on intercity variation in trends of youth homicide (ages 13–17 and 18–24) and incorporating the density of alcohol outlets in the analy- sis. Doing so not only extends recent research on youth homicide trends, but it also extends research on the Robert N. Parker PhD, Professor/Co-Director, Kirk R.Williams PhD, Professor/Co-Director, Kevin J. McCaffree BA, Research Assistant, Emily K. Acensio PhD, Professor, Angela Browne PhD, Principle Investigator, Kevin J. Strom PhD, Senior Research Scientist, Kelle Barrick PhD, Research Criminologist. Correspondence to Dr Robert N. Parker, Presley Center and Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.Tel: +1 95 1827 4604; Fax: +1 95 1827 7394; E-mail: robnp@aol.com Received 17 November 2010; accepted for publication 18 May 2011. REVIEW Drug and Alcohol Review (September 2011), 30, 505–514 DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-3362.2011.00336.x © 2011 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs