Outdoor Lighting and Crime - Amper

8.5 ANOTHER VIEW
There is an extensive journal literature on the factors that may induce young people in
particular to resort to crime. A rather superficial search indicated no mention of lighting as a
factor, hardly surprising as there seems to be no immediately obvious reason why it should
be. But a possible reason emerges from a suggestion by Hollan (2002a) about a different way
in which a positive indirect connection could occur between outdoor lighting and crime. The
suggestion is restated here:
Celestial features figure prominently in many cultures and religions. Social
responsibility, morality and ethics have traditionally been part of religious teaching.
Religious beliefs and participation in religious ceremonies appear to help at least
some individuals to resist the temptation of resorting to antisocial or criminal acts.
Feelings analogous or supplementary to religious faith also seem to be a common
reaction for people appreciating the natural glory of the starry sky, regardless of
whether they have religious beliefs or not. Such experiences of escaping from often
unpleasant reality of everyday life by ‘touching eternity’ are more conducive to love
and serenity than hate and disorder.
Recent decades have seen a declining trend in religious belief and observance.
Secular teaching about socially responsible behaviour has not expanded quickly
enough to fill the gap between the need and availability of moral and ethical
guidance for younger people in particular.
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Far less widely recognised has been the effect of creeping increases in skyglow in
the same time. Especially for people in the more affluent countries, the night sky
has been progressively blotted out to the extent that the glorious spectacle has been
largely or completely destroyed by stealth. The arousal attached to the natural fear
of darkness and the unknown has likewise diminished. Particularly in urban centres,
groups of socialising young people in the evening have been deprived of these
behaviour-moderating influences. Substitute arousal can be gained from movies
filled with anger and violence, and from the practical application of the antisocial
behavioural guidance provided by these movies. This is often combined with the
effects of drugs and alcohol, which provide degraded surrogates for the altered
world view formerly given by perceiving the immensity of the Cosmos.
Poets have not missed the sadness of prisoners deprived of the stars at night.
Modern cities unwittingly deprive their inmates similarly. The lost stars could be a
previously unrecognised common factor in urban criminality and recidivism.
There is much independent support for aspects of Hollan’s suggestion. For example, a
woman who grew up when thousands of stars could still be seen from Essex, UK, said:
“It was difficult being a teenager, and the stars became a spiritual and emotional
connection for me. The stars had constancy. We couldn’t mess them up. We
couldn’t touch them… The night sky was a comfort to me. I had all this turmoil in
my life. Looking up was calming experience.” (Appelbe 2001)
Van den Burg (2000, pp 31,32) has several more quotations, including one from Bertrand
Russell: