Nos Thèmes
Définir et mesurer
Les sources lumineuses
Les impacts
La Sécurité, criminalité
Définir et mesurer
Les sources lumineuses
Les impacts
La Sécurité, criminalité
Lighting campaigns seek to enhance the ability of people to provide protection for each other.
In 1979, the predecessor agency of NIJ, the National Institute of Law Enforcement and
Criminal Justice, reported on a review of 60 lighting evaluations. The authors of this review
concluded:
« Is street lighting an effective approach in the reduction and deterrence of crime? The answer
is inconclusive. The paucity of reliable and uniform data and the inadequacy of available
evaluation studies preclude a definitive statement regarding the relationship between street
lighting and crime. » (Tien, et. al. 1979, page 93, emphasis in the original)
Almost twenty years later, we know little more about the effectiveness of lighting.
In the 1980's, a borough in London upgraded all of its street lighting. Atkins, Husain and
Storey (1991) compared reported crimes the year before the relighting to the year following
for 39 sections of the borough. No control areas were used, so background trends in crime
cannot be assessed. No systematic changes in crime were detected. Surveys of residents of
one area found no changes in perceptions of security.
A Scottish study of relighting in a Glasgow neighborhood and a small town near Glasgow
found that there was a short term reduction in victimizations that varied from 32 percent to 68
percent, depending on how victimization was measured (respondent victimizations,
victimization of respondents' children, victimization of other family members, victimization
of friends, or car victimization). Reported crime dropped 14 percent. The evaluators compared
a three-month period prior to relighting to a three-month period following (Ditton and Nair
1994). No control group was used and the results for the two neighborhoods were combined.
Finally, we need to consider three separate evaluations, with similar designs, undertaken by
Painter (1994). She examined lighting improvements on two separate street segments and a
footpath, all located in « crime prone » areas within London. Pedestrians were interviewed
before and after the lighting improvement. All interviews were conducted after dark and were
completed within 6 weeks of the relighting. No interviews were conducted in control areas.
Substantial reductions in robberies, auto crimes, and threats were reported in two sites (86
percent, 79 percent). These crimes were eliminated in the third site, but the number of crimes
before relighting was small so this could have been the result of other factors.
uk_-_preventing_crime_what_works_-_4pg.pdf
Percent distribution of burglaries known to police in USA, by place and time of
occurrence. ‘Res’ is residence (dwelling) and ‘NonRes’ is store, office etc. For residential
burglaries, the time is unknown for between 16% and 19% of all reported burglaries in
individual years, and for non-residential, 9% to 11%. Data are from Maguire and Pastore
(2002, Table 3.163). Note that the total number of burglaries in the USA has fallen over the
years shown.
usa_-_burglaries_by_night_and_day_-_1pg.pdf
Does outdoor nighttime lighting prevent crime?
The answer is nobody knows. There have been
studies in the United States and in Europe examining
this issue, and they have come to no definite
conclusions that can be applied to society as a
whole. Some studies suggest that lighting a particular
neighborhood or park reduces the local crime
rate. These types of studies often suffer from poor
controls, poor scientific methodology, and failure to
include ling term follow-up. Other studies show no
significant change in crime rates after the installation
of lighting. If it were so easy to reduce crime
with lighting, then we should have made considerable
headway by now. Our cities have never been
brighter, yet the crime rate is higher than ever. The
connection between crime reduction and increased
lighting is vague at best
usa_-_ida_-_lighting_and_crime_-_1pg.pdf
Many people who have not had occasion to investigate the matter tend to assume that
where crime is a concern, “the more light, the better”! But the research that has been done to date has
provided no reliable evidence that this so.
A 1977 U.S. Department of Justice analysis of 60 street lighting projects found that
“there is no statistically significant evidence that street lighting impacts the level of crime, especially if
crime displacement is taken into account.” An even more comprehensive Justice Department report in
1997 stated, “We may speculate that lighting is effective in some places, ineffective in others, and
counter productive in still other circumstances….Lighting has received considerable attention. Yet,
evaluation designs are weak and the results are mixed. We can have very little confidence that
improved lighting prevents crime….In the absence of better theories about when and where lighting can
be effective, and rigorous evaluations of plausible lighting interventions, we cannot make any scientific
assertions regarding the effectiveness of lighting. In short, the effectiveness of lighting is unknown.”
usa_-_selene_-_lighting_and_crime_-_1pg.pdf