[Community_garden] do gardens reduce crime?

[Lenny Librizzi]

Miriam,
Some of the best research on the effect the community gardening and community gardeners have on reducing crime is the work of Dr. Fenton Earls.
Below is an excerpt from an article in the New York Times about his work.

There is also the Whitmire Study in St. Louis, link below:

And another link below to an interesting document which addresses this issue.

Also see the work of Frances Kuo and William Sullivan on the effect of greenery on crime rates and neighborhood safety.

Lenny Librizzi 



New York Times

January 6, 2004

SCIENTIST AT WORK

On Crime as Science (a Neighbor at a Time)

By DAN HURLEY

BOSTON — Dr. Felton Earls was on the street, looking for something at ground level that would help explain his theories about the roots of crime. He found it across from a South Side housing project, in a community garden of frost-wilted kale and tomatoes. 

"That couldn't be more perfect," said Dr. Earls, a 61-year-old professor of human behavior and development at the Harvard School of Public Health. Gazing at a homemade sign for the garden at the corner of East Brookline Street and Harrison Avenue, he pointed out four little words: "Please respect our efforts."

"We've been besieged to better explain our findings," he said. For over 10 years, Dr. Earls has run one of the largest, longest and most expensive studies in the history of criminology. "We always say, It's all about taking action, making an effort."

Link to the Whitmire Study:
http://www.communitygarden.org/learn/resources/research.php

Check this document
www.aic.gov.au/conferences/partnership/calhoun2.pdf 

Lenny Librizzi
Council on the Environment
51 Chambers Street room 228
NY,NY 10007
212-788-7927 phone
212-788-7913 fax
llibrizzi at cenyc.org
www.cenyc.org



-----Original Message-----
From: Miriam Avins [mailto:mavins at erols.com]
Sent: Fri 3/7/2008 3:10 PM
To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
Subject: [Community_garden] do gardens reduce crime?
 
Hi, everyone,

I'm working on a paper about Baltimore's need for a land trust for 
community-managed open space. Can any of you help me find academic 
studies of how community gardens (and other open spaces managed by 
communities) reduce crime and other social ills? I've seen plenty of 
studies on the general topic of greening and a reduction in social 
ills, but nothing specific to community gardens. Can any of you wise 
folks give me a reference?

Thank you so much!

regards,

Miriam

Miriam Avins
Homestead Harvest Community Garden
and Baltimore Green Space



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