Opening more late night in Melbourne will increase the level of violence on the streets

Street violence has become an important problem at night hours in Melbourne which is the heart of art, entertainment, business, sport, amusement, recreation and tourism in Australia.  Pubs and venues opened till late at night are favorable grounds for increasing cruelty, fighting and violence. At the same time, venues opened late at night are the only places for entertainment for thousands of people both residents and guests of the City of Melbourne. The City has a range of pubs, nightclubs, hotels, restaurants and other recreation enjoyment places. The problem of brutality on the streets is the result of extended night life of the City. Opening more late night in Melbourne will be the reason of increasing of the level of violence on the streets.

Melbourne is known for street violence, and was called “The Street of Fear” by The Herald Sun as there were not safe to walk on the streets (Alcos 2009).  In the past several months street fighting level has increased comparing to the last year and has taken high point in occurrences connected with violence actions.

The level of violence is not connected directly with the time of closing of entertainment venues but creates an opportunity for offenders to commit illegal actions. As offenders have more time to drink alcoholic beverages and walk throughout the night in the city. Conditions for violence are created and enhanced with the help of extended night working hours of nightclubs and pubs where anti-social behavior is provoked as people feel no or less control in the nightclub late at night than during the day.

Opening more late night in Melbourne enlarges possibilities of the violence. A potential offender will show his aggressive behavior which can result in injuring of people in certain conditions such as night entertainment places.

Alcohol is more accessible in the pubs and it gives rise to the alcohol-related violence. Thus Victoria police are searching for a range of alcohol-related crimes at a Melbourne night bars.    It was said that a 20-year-old man was taken to hospital after being kicked outside the Star Bar in South Melbourne and a 39-year-old man supposedly had his nose broken when he was punched by a security guard at the bar, a 20-year-old woman was punched twice in the face by a drunk man inside the bar (ABC News, 2009).  There are plenty of examples of violence crimes due to the alcoholic intoxication in Melbourne. Late night violent crimes are more serious than those during the day at pubs and entertainment venues guests drink more and more throughout the night. Ian Gray, Victoria’s chief magistrate, said that the harshness of the late-night attacks is becoming worse because of a phenomenal level” of alcohol availability and large drinking venues (The Age, 2009).

The number of people loitering with intent will increase after opening more late night places. This is a direct danger for inhabitants as they are under risk of assault by intoxicated and possibly aggressive offenders.

Night bars and clubs are more often the places of violence in Melbourne but the close of them will not solve the problem of violence on the streets, while the opening of more late night places will increase the number of cases of brutality and fighting. Realization of the problem by the local authorities led to the three months trial lockout of the ban of entry after 2 a.m. for bars, nightclubs and pubs of Melbourne (Sapienza, 2009). According to the ban it was forbidden to enter any entertainment venues from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m. but those being already inside the leisure activity places were allowed to stay there till the close time.

Taking into consideration Rob White’s statement that Australia has a “culture of violence” (Alcos, 2009), it can be assumed that the problem of cruelty does not depend on the opening of late night places though late night venues definitely contribute to the numerous violence cases. Cruelty of the inhabitants is to be taken into account when regulating hours of opened late night enjoyments. Another assumption is that opening more late night in Melbourne will contribute to socializing and raise the economy and business of the City. But numerous and vivid examples of violence proved that socializing often ends as an assault or abuse and brings more negative points than socializing itself as strengthened by an alcoholic intoxication.

All in all, Melbourne level of violence will increase after opening of late night entertainment venues as it will create opportunities, possibilities and conditions for cruelty, general anti-social behavior, enlarges the number of people loitering late at night at the streets.