The War At Home: A Study of the Effects of the Military Presence on Alcohol-Related Violent Crime in Plymouth

Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to determine whether the presence of the military in the city of Plymouth had an impact on the local rate of alcohol-related violence. The data collected from the series of interviews with local police officers supports the background literature and attributes the alcohol-related violence that occurs in the city to a high level of masculinity, groups and individuals not wanting to 'lose face' and aggressive behaviour by elements of both the civilian population and the military personnel. Collectively, the evidence gathered suggests that although military personnel are involved in a certain amount fighting, their absence would not significantly alter the local level of alcohol-related violence. Whilst the statistical analysis showed that military towns had a higher rate of violent crime, the more detailed interviews with the police attributed only a certain amount of this to military personnel. Within this there were identifiable trends and differences of behaviour of what would be termed front line' troops about to or just returned from a tour of duty and other 'non-front line' military personnel. Despite this there is no conclusive evidence of a causal relationship between the military and alcohol-related violent crime. In fact, a number of other factors such as the demographics of the people found in the military and the sociological reasons behind their behaviour are more likely to be responsible for the majority of the incidences of alcohol-related violence in Plymouth.School of Law and Social Scienc