Towns that come down the hardest on merchants selling cigarettes to minors and on minors buying cigarettes may also possess characteristics that protect them from crime, suggest the results of an exploratory study in Illinois. "It is possible that early adopters of regulatory policies regarding youth access to tobacco products are also those communities that react early and prominently to other types of criminal behavior, and that it is these policies that tend to lower crime rates," suggested lead author Leonard A. Jason, PhD, of DePaul University in Chicago, IL.
But Jason and colleagues also remarked that the association they noted between tough youth tobacco legislation enforcement and low crime rates could be a coincidence, and that further research is needed to determine if tough enforcement is actually linked with low crime rates.
The researchers surveyed 29 towns in DuPage County in Illinois, many of which based their legislation on a Woodridge, IL., ordinance forbidding the sale of tobacco to individuals under 18 as well as the possession of tobacco by individuals under 18. To determine how vigorously towns enforced youth tobacco legislation, the researchers measured how often in the past year minors had been sent by law enforcement officials to attempt cigarette purchases from merchants in each town. Merchants were subject to fines or license suspension or revocation for selling cigarettes to minors. The researchers also counted how many minors were fined for tobacco possession in each town during the past year.
Towns that enforced youth tobacco legislation most vigorously had the lowest rates of crime, including violent crime and property crime, the researchers found. The results of their study appear in the March/April issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.
The researchers noted that towns with vigorous youth tobacco legislation and low crime had low crime rates even before tobacco legislation was enacted, suggesting that such towns may have characteristics that both help them enforce youth tobacco laws and protect them from crime. "Towns that see the importance of responding relatively quickly to these types of adolescent problems might also be more ready to tackle other more visible community problems, and this vigilance and proactive stance ultimately results in lower overall crime statistics," said Jason. "If the heavy enforcers have characteristics that serve as protective factors in deterring crimes, then it would be critical to engage in further research to better isolate what those factors might be," said Jason.
The American Journal of Health Promotion is a bimonthly peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the field of health promotion. For information about the journal call 248-682-0707 or visit the journal's website at http://www.healthpromotionjournal.com.
Posted by the Center for the Advancement of Health, http://www.cfah.org. For information about the Center, call Petrina Chong, pchong@cfah.org, 202-387-2829.
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American Journal of Health Promotion