STREET LIGHTING AND CRIME: DIFFUSION OF BENEFITS IN THE STOKE-ON-TRENT PROJECT

Using a victim survey, the prevalence and incidence of crime were measured 12 months before and 12 months after the installation of improved street lighting in an experimental area of Stoke-on-Trent, U.K.; and at the same times in adjacent and control areas where the street lighting remained unchanged. The prevalence of crime decreased by 26% in the experimental area and by 21% in the adjacent area, but increased by 12% in the control area. The incidence of crime decreased by 43% in the experimental area and by 45% in the adjacent area, but decreased by only 2% in the control area. Police-recorded crimes in the whole police area also decreased by only 2%. It is concluded that the improved street lighting caused a substantial decrease in crime in the experimental area, and that there was a diffusion of these benefits to the adjacent area (which was not clearly delimited from the experimental area). Furthermore, the benefits of improved street lighting, in terms of the saidngs to the public from crimes prevented, greatly outweighed its costsx The main aim of the present research was to assess the effect of improved street lighting on crime, using before and after victimization surveys in experimental, adjacent and control areas. This quasiexperimental design makes it possible to control for many threats to valid inference. It also permits the investigation of displacement and diffusion of benefits from experimental to adjacent areas. In many Crime Prevention Studies, volume 10, pp. 77-122 78 — Kate Painter and David P. Farrington ways, the study resembles a "double-blind" clinical trial, since neither respondents nor interviewers knew about its purpose.

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