Do public libraries help mitigate crime
Publication id: neto-2023-public-libraries-crime
Status: verified
Citation: Neto, A., Nowicki, J., & Shakya, S. (2023). Do public libraries help mitigate crime? Evidence from Kansas City, MO. The Journal of Cultural Economics. Download PDF
Facts¶
Policy hook¶
Cultural institutions like public libraries are often justified on grounds of education, community cohesion, and community benefit. However, few studies examine whether libraries have measurable public safety benefits. If libraries reduce crime, they could provide an additional justification for public investment—particularly in underserved neighborhoods.
Main finding¶
Public library openings reduce crime within nearby proximity, with substantial reductions in burglaries, vandalism, robberies, fraud, and assaults. Crime reductions are largest at close proximity to the library and decay with distance—effects vanish at greater distances, suggesting a localized neighborhood effect rather than a city-wide reduction.
Data and setting¶
Kansas City, Missouri, from 2009 to 2017. Outcome data come from the Kansas City Police Department’s Crime Open Database with geocoded crime locations. Library data come from the Public Library Survey. The study focuses on the Woodneath Public Library Branch, which opened in June 2013—the city’s 13th branch after more than 20 years without a new library opening.
Research design (plain language)¶
The paper uses a difference-in-differences strategy comparing crime in areas near the new library (treated areas at varying distances) with crime in comparison areas before and after the library opening. The analysis examines whether crime changes at different radii from the library location. Robustness is tested through a placebo distribution: 1,000 iterations of randomly permuting library locations to generate a null distribution of expected crime changes under no true effect.
One caveat¶
Crime reduction effects are limited to nearby proximity only and vanish at distance, which could reflect selection (people self-sorting near libraries) or reverse causality (libraries opening in low-crime areas first). The study covers only one library opening in one city, limiting generalizability. Only one other explicit prior study (Porter 2014) examining public libraries and crime was found in the literature.
PDF or DOI¶
Why it matters¶
Public libraries are often valued for education and community use, but their role in public safety is rarely examined. This paper presents novel evidence that library openings reduce nearby crime—suggesting that cultural institutions provide benefits beyond the circulation desk. The effect is localized, meaning the library influences nearby neighborhoods most strongly. For urban planners and local policymakers, this adds a public safety dimension to library funding decisions, particularly in communities dealing with high crime. The localized effect hints at mechanisms such as increased foot traffic, community engagement, or informal social control around the library. However, the study covers only one library in one city, so replication in other contexts is needed. The findings also raise questions about causality: do libraries reduce crime, or do low-crime neighborhoods get libraries first? Nevertheless, the work suggests that cultural investment can have measurable public benefits beyond cultural participation, offering an additional rationale for public libraries in economically disadvantaged areas.