The influence of street lighting improvements on crime, fear and pedestrian street use, after dark

This paper focuses upon the results of a co-ordinated programme of research designed to evaluate the impact of street lighting improvements on crime and fear of crime. The street lighting was upgraded in three urban streets and a pedestrian footpath considered by a multi-agency team to be crime and fear prone. The impact of the street lighting programme was assessed using attitudinal and behavioural measures, through ‘before’ and ‘after’ surveys of pedestrians. The results provide convincing evidence that sensitively deployed street lighting can lead to reductions in crime and fear of crime, and increase pedestrian street use after dark.