outdoor lighting and crime, part 1 - Astronomical Society of Victoria

9 CONCLUSIONS 51
9.1 EXISTING KNOWLEDGE OF LIGHTING EFFECTS ON CRIME . . . . . . . 51
9.2 DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECTS OF LIGHTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
9.3 BIAS IN LIGHTING AND CRIME EXPERIMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
9.4 ASSESSMENT OF REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
9.5 DEBUNKING THE MYTH OF LIGHTING FOR CRIME PREVENTION . . . . 52
9.6 CCTV AS AN ALTERNATIVE FOR CRIME PREVENTION . . . . . . . . . . 53
9.7 SECURITY LIGHTING AND STREET LIGHTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 53
11 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 53
12 REFERENCES 54
1 INTRODUCTION
Improvements to outdoor lighting are frequently mentioned in election promises, the news
media and government planning documents as an option or action for crime reduction. Unfortunately,
the common interpretation of ‘improvements’ as ‘more and brighter’ in this
context is likely to lead to ineffective or even counterproductive outcomes, as will be seen.
At the outset, it is important to appreciate that there is a widespread belief in the effectiveness
of artificial outdoor light at night as a means of reducing actual crime as well as
allaying the fear of crime. Seemingly regardless of the balance of scientific evidence, lighting
for crime prevention has long been incorporated as standard practice in fields such as
architecture, urban design, policing, security, and the lighting industry itself.
2 ESTABLISHING THE FACTS
2.1 ASPECTS OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Early explanations of natural phenomena and human behaviour were derived by the method
of intuition (eg ancient concept of Earth as the centre of the universe) or the method of authority
(eg bishop announced date of creation as 4004 BC). These methods (eg Martinez-
Papponi 2000 [66]) of trying to increase knowledge have been superseded by scientific
method in the last four centuries, which is not to say that intuition and standing have no
place in scientific progress.
Intuition and authoritative guidance assist expedience in the decision making of everyday
life. However, they tend to intrude from there into public debate on contentious issues that
require scientific input as a necessary part of resolution. Environmental issues provide many
examples. The ends may encourage misuse of authority but seldom if ever justify it.
The effectiveness of rigorously applied scientific method is firmly established. But if
some applicable rules and procedures are not followed properly in a particular study, the
conclusions may be flawed. Described below are some of the more common traps that await
the unwary and sometimes even the cognoscenti. This also indicates some of the reasons
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