Output data for null test 1.

Evidence about the relationship between lighting and crime is mixed. Although a review of evidence found that improved road/ street lighting was associated with reductions in crime, these reductions occurred in daylight as well as after dark, suggesting any effect was not due only to changes in visual conditions. One limitation of previous studies is that crime data are reported in aggregate and thus previous analyses were required to make simplifications concerning types of crimes or locations. We addressed this issue by working with a UK police force to access records of individual crimes. We used these data to determine whether the risk of crime at a specific time of day is greater after dark than during daylight, using a case and control approach to analyse ten years of crime data. We compared counts of crimes in ‘case’ hours, that are in daylight and darkness at different times of the year, and ‘control’ hours, that are in daylight throughout the year. From these counts we calculated odds ratios as a measure of the effect of darkness on risk of crime. The results supported our three hypotheses: 1) The risk of overall crime occurring after dark was greater than during daylight (OR: 1.28, 95%CI: 1.23–1.34); 2) The risk of crime occurring after dark varied depending on crime category, with five out of fourteen crime categories having odds ratios greater than 1.0; and 3) The risk of crime occurring after dark varied depending on geographical area, with 25 out of 172 Middle Super Output Areas in South Yorkshire having odds ratios greater than 1.0. Our results suggest darkness increases the risk of Bicycle Theft, Burglary, Criminal damage, Robbery – personal, and Vehicle offences, and that some areas may be at more risk of crime occurring after dark than others. These findings suggest the crime types where outdoor lighting may help reduce the risk of crime after dark.

现有关于照明与犯罪之间关联的研究证据存在分歧。尽管一项证据综述显示，改善道路/街道照明与犯罪率下降存在关联，但此类犯罪率下降在日间及夜间均有出现，这表明其影响并非仅由视觉条件变化所致。既往研究存在一项显著局限：犯罪数据均为汇总报告形式，因此过往分析不得不对犯罪类型或犯罪地点进行简化处理。本研究通过与英国某警务部门合作调取单宗犯罪记录，解决了这一研究局限。本研究利用上述数据，采用案例对照法分析十年期犯罪数据，以此判断一日中特定时段的犯罪风险在夜间是否高于日间：我们分别统计了"案例时段"（一年中不同时段同时包含日间与夜间）与"对照时段"（全年均为日间）的犯罪数量并进行对比，基于上述统计数据计算了比值比（Odds Ratio, OR），以量化夜间对犯罪风险的影响效应。研究结果验证了我们提出的三项假说：其一，总体犯罪在夜间发生的风险高于日间（比值比：1.28，95%置信区间：1.23–1.34）；其二，夜间犯罪风险因犯罪类别而异，14个犯罪类别中有5个的比值比大于1.0；其三，夜间犯罪风险因地理区域而异，南约克郡的172个中级超级输出区（Middle Super Output Areas, MSOA）中有25个的比值比大于1.0。本研究结果显示，夜间会提升自行车盗窃（Bicycle Theft）、入室盗窃（Burglary）、故意毁坏财物（Criminal Damage）、人身抢劫（Robbery – Personal）以及车辆类犯罪（Vehicle Offences）的犯罪风险，且部分区域的夜间犯罪风险高于其他区域。上述研究结果明确了可通过户外照明降低夜间犯罪风险的犯罪类别。