Do clubs cause crime?

18 comments

• Alucard

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  11 years ago

  People commit crimes, NOT buildings. Crimes can be committed anywhere, at any time.
• DoctorPhil

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  11 years ago

  @alucard “People commit crimes, NOT guns.” ftfy
• rockstar666

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  11 years ago

  I would say that there is more crime around the clubs for the reason stated: drunk men with cash who are loathe to call the police. But the onus is on the police to keep neighborhoods safe, even the SOB part of town. Saying a legal business attracts too much crime is a tacit indictment of the effectiveness of local law enforcement: instead of watching the parking lot they're inside getting BJ's. For free.
• Rod8432

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  11 years ago

  Do clubs "cause" crime - No. Do congregations of people correlate with increases in crime - Always. It must be so. The increase in person-to-person interactions guarantees it. Being a sex-related business has nothing to do with it. Regarding the example of the strip club in the article that opened near an off-ramp and allegedly increased crime in the nearby town, certainly an all-night diner or gas station would increase crime. Hell, even a church would've been a "magnet" for crime - inviting break-ins, fights among the parishioners, collection box pilfering, auto-theft on Sundays, etc. This is a classic case of the article confusing correlation with causality. To close down a strip club because it's correlated with an increase in crime is wrong. As the article implies, pious legislators use that reason to get around free speech issues and the right to run a legal business. They want to lay their morality on others, and aren't above leveraging any means to do it.
• SlickSpic

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  11 years ago

  Legal businesses such as jewelry stores, gas stations, and liqour stores attract more crime than bookstores, Radio Shacks, and nurseries.
• deogol

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  11 years ago

  As slickspic was alluding to, it is the kind of customer that a business attracts. Not to many people can afford jewelry, but put a pawn shop in with lower priced jewelry - there goes the neighborhood! So if an area already has lower class people wandering around, it makes no difference. (Though a pawn shop will have a better idea of what is needed security wise.) If ya put a pawn shop in an upper class area, best to call it a resale shop. :) Other shops that are prevalent regardless of community, like 24 hour convenience stores and the like - they too will attract the bad element (so called "rob and gos"). If the club is kept up and security is sure to throw bums out, I don't see a problem. Cheetahs in Silicon Valley seems to make a go of it and that is in a very expensive area.
• bang69

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  11 years ago

  Alucard what part of this don't you understand. Guns don't kill people. Ass Holes with guns kill people.
• sharkhunter

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  11 years ago

  Clubs don't cause crime. Crime is the result of a few bad apples taking advantage of an opportunity where they think they can get away with something without paying for it. If clubs beefed up security enough that almost all criminals were caught and convicted, then I bet crime would drop as low as it is for banks. You won't stop some people from doing stupid things but you can catch them and put them away with good security. A lack of good lights and cameras or security in the parking lot promotes crime in my opinion if some are looking around for an opportunity.
• txtittyfan

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  11 years ago

  There have been more non consensual sex crimes in the Catholic Church, than consensual sex crimes in strip clubs.
• motorhead

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  11 years ago

  Illegal drugs, prostitution, extortion Nah, strip clubs don't have any crime
• thenumber10

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  11 years ago

  The biggest factor is if the club bothers to basically secure its premesis. If it does this, by watching for people looking to take advantage of the fact that fewer people may call in incidents and be linked to a attending a strip club. It wont be the blight on the community the NIMBY's make it out to be. The problem is, how many clubs are willing to put the money up for that level of security?
• motorhead

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  11 years ago

  "The problem is, how many clubs are willing to put the money up for that level of security?" For one, the Deja Vu chain of clubs. I know, most of y'all hardcore clubbers hate the corporate clubs, but just as example, the DJV in Lansing, Mi is located near the worst crime area of the city, and they have uniformed parking lot security, good lighting, and video surveillance. They close at 4 am and often draw the after hours bar crowd. Problems rarely occur.
• ilbbaicnl

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  11 years ago

  I think it's pretty clear that strip clubs attract criminals, but it's pretty dubious that they create criminals. If the criminal justice systems hates strip clubs, it would be for the same reason some deer hunters hate bait corn, reduces the challenge. Most strip clubs seem to be well away from residential areas, like in a warehouse district. The problem you see a lot is that the cops are just itching to close the club as a public nuisance. So club security has to cover up problems rather than bringing in the cops to help solve them.
• crazyjoe

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  11 years ago

  Alucard...that was the smartest comment you have made on here. Tittyfan....that is the truth
• inno123

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  11 years ago

  Having tried to help owners with site selection for potential clubs I can certainly say that clubs are forced into the sketchy parts of town. For one thing you are usually having to look at unincorporated zones since the county regulations are usually looser than the city regulations, so it is areas that no city wanted to annex (bad sign there) OR it is some city like the City of Industry where property values are not a major concern. Then you have to deal with separation distances from schools, churches, parks, etc, which further limits your choices and you have to look for places with frontage and visibility from a major road. By the end you are looking at the dregs of land use if anything is available at all. And then, honestly, clubs probably do draw criminals. They may not create criminals, but they bring large quantities of males under 40, which is the primary demographic for criminals, add booze and an emotionally charged atmosphere, and shit happens. But you could say the same thing about football games for the same reasons. Zone sports fields out of existence?
• Estafador

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  11 years ago

  I remeber Kays jewellery store in a popular lower class neighborhood. Never heard of it getting robbed but after a year or sosince I moved there, the place closed down.I don't think any type of facilities whether it be clubs or jewelry stores attract criminal activity. whatever criminal activity is already there is escalated to further due to the facilities popularity. You don't hear much of pawn shops due to super heaviy security; damn near level of banks...minus the guard...depending. That and I think maybe hoods have a certain level of respect for them. That's just a hypothesis of course.
• Electronman

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  11 years ago

  Two strategies to reduce crime at strip clubs?? If you assume that physical altercations between customers or between customers and bouncers make up a good deal of strip club crime, then I would suggest: 1) Provide extras (really!) I suspect that happy customers are less likely to create a scene than horny, frustrated customers. 2) Control alcohol sales, especially after midnight (e.g., Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, stops beer sales in the stands after the 7th inning). P.S. The key to getting a valid answer to this question it to compare strip clubs to other entertainment venues that are matched for 1) similar customer volume, 2) located in similar neighborhoods, and 3) also serve alcohol, but 4) do differ only with regard to the presence of strippers. I suspect that alcohol and customer demographics (young males) is the primary reason that strip clubs seem to be associated with crime.
• DandyDan

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  11 years ago

  I don't think strip clubs cause crime, but they attract an element looking to escape the restrictions of normal society and a lot of people who wish to escape the restrictions of normal society are criminals looking to make easy money, just like the strippers of a strip club.