Violence in the night‐time economy; bouncers: The reporting, recording and prosecution of assaults¹∗

Abstract

This paper, based on ethnographic research, is concerned with the accountability of licensed premise door staff -better known as 'bouncers'. 2 The situational dynamics of the bouncer's enacted environment ensures that theirs is a role consistently exposed to the interactions of violence. As such, allegations of assault, both upon and by door staff, are common. This paper reports upon incidents of door staff violence and why they often fail to be investigated and, when they are investigated, why they frequently fail to be successfully prosecuted at court. In doing so, the paper highlights the adopted attitudes and procedural methods employed by both bouncers and police officers, which have a detrimental impact upon the deterrent function of the criminal law. The paper ends by offering some policy prescriptions to local police managers, suggesting that the state police become more (pro)actively involved in overseeing the provision of this expanding sector of the private security industry. 1 The authors would like to thank Paul Broadbent as well as two anonymous referees for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. 2 Throughout our research we use the terms 'bouncers' and 'door staff interchangeably, whilst the latter is perhaps more acceptable to those in the trade, the former is more historically grounded as a commonly recognised UK colloquialism. 383

Measuring violence in and around licensed premises: The need for a better evidence base

“…Hope (1986) reported one quarter of police-attended incidents in one study occurred within a 250 square metre area containing 12 pubs and that offences peaked between 11.00pm and 11.30pm. Lister et al (2000) found 29% of violent offences occurred inside licensed premises and 70% of city centre violence took place between 9.00pm and 3.00am. Hutchinson et al (1998) compiled evidence from 163 Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments in England and Wales and reported that 90% of facial injuries in pubs and bars, and 45% of facial injuries incurred in the street were associated with alcohol consumption.…”

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“…Hope (1986) found one quarter of police-attended incidents (including violence) in Newcastle-upon-Tyne city centre occurred within a 250 square metre area containing 12 pubs with a peak in offences from 11.00pm to 11.30pm. Lister et al (2000) found that 29 per cent of recorded violent incidents in Eastville occurred inside licensed premises, and 70 per cent of city centre violence occurred between 9.00pm and 3.00am. Thus there has been an increased focus and shift towards areas with concentrations of NTE activity.…”

Aggressive incidents inside a Montreal barroom involving patrons, barmaids and bouncers: A micro level examination of routine activity theory

“…Finally, the bias of using bouncers to collect data also represents a limitation, as they may have failed to report some aggressive incidents committed or instigated by staff (Graham et al 2005;Wells et al 1998). Nevertheless, bouncers likely provided more insight than would have outside observers (Calvey 2000;Lister et al 2000;Monahagan 2004;Hobbs et al 2002;Hobbs 2003;Winlow et al 2001). …”

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