Limitation of Beverage Sales Hours, São Paulo State Metropolitan Region
Problems addressed
Homicides
Effectiveness

Promising

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Promising

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Life periods served
People of all ages
Where the program was applied
Commercial establishments or stores
Country of application
Brazil
Description

This is a program that consisted of municipal laws that reduced the opening hours of bars and prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages during certain hours, which became known as “Lei Seca” (Dry Law). The main objective of the prohibition was to reduce crime.
This was implemented in the early 2000s in a group of approximately 16 municipalities in the state of São Paulo, and the best known experience is that of the municipality of Diadema. Law No. 2107, published by the municipality in March 2002, established restrictions and definitions for bars and for the sale of alcoholic beverages, such as the hours of operation between 6 AM and 11 PM, and also possible sanctions in case of non-compliance with these measures.

Impact evaluations

Impact evaluation studies have shown a reduction in the number of homicides in the region since 2001. One of them showed that the initiative caused an average reduction of 20.4% in homicides in the municipalities that adopted the Prohibition Law, with variations depending on the location [1]. Another study shows that there was a 10% reduction in the homicide rate in the cities that adopted the intervention [2].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Alves Schneider, A. (2005). Determinantes da Criminalidade na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo [dissertação]. Fundação Getulio Vargas, São Paulo, Brasil. https://bibliotecadigital.fgv.br/dspace/bitstream/handle/10438/2429/408…

[2] Biderman, C., Mello, J. M. P. de y Schneider, A. (2010). Dry Laws and Homicides: Evidence from the São Paulo Metropolitan Area. The Economic Journal, 120(543), 157–182. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2009.02299.x.

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