This paper provides a cost-benefit analysis of street lighting as a method of reducing crime. Between 1990 and 1993, two lighting projects were conducted which aimed to evaluate the impact of street lighting improvements. The projects used a non-equivalent control group design, together with victim surveys and on-street pedestrian counts to assess the impact of street lighting on crime prevention. High-pressure sodium lighting was introduced into two English residential areas, in Dudley, West Midlands, and Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Crime incidence, public attitudes and perceptions, and pedestrian street use at night were compared 12 months before and after the street lighting was improved. For both areas, tables give detailed breakdowns of the numbers of crimes reduced alongside the estimated crime prevention savings. In Dudley, improved street lighting was followed by significant decreases in the prevalence and incidence of crime in the experimental area compared with the control area. In Stoke, the prevalance and incidence of victimisation, the prevalence of known victims, and the prevalence of witnesses of crime were measured before and after. There was a marked decrease of crime in the experimental area, somewhat less decrease in the adjacent area, and no decrease in the control area.
Abstract