The Effects of Street Cleaning on Serious Crime and Gun Violence in Philadelphia, 2023–2024: A Stratified Randomized Controlled Trial.
Objectives. To determine if street cleaning interventions reduce gun violence and street crime. Methods. We conducted a stratified randomized controlled trial of 300 high gun violence street segments in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, assigned to either a street cleaning intervention or a no-interventio...
| Published in: | American Journal of Public Health Vol. 116; no. 8; pp. 1171 - 1180 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | Article |
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American Public Health Association
Aug2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=195376209&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 195376209 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00900036 APH jtl: American Journal of Public Health issn: 00900036 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2026 vid: 116 iid: 8 pid: 44 pub: American Public Health Association artinfo: ui: 195376209 10.2105/AJPH.2026.308429 ppf: 1171 ppct: 9 formats: tig: atl: The Effects of Street Cleaning on Serious Crime and Gun Violence in Philadelphia, 2023–2024: A Stratified Randomized Controlled Trial. aug: au: MacDonald, John M. Hernandez, Wilson Braga, Anthony A. South, Eugenia C. Branas, Charles C. affil: Department of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Health System, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Penn Medicine Center for Health Justice, Center for Health Care Transformation and Innovation, University of Pennsylvania Health System, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA., Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, NY. su: Pennsylvania Crime prevention Sanitation Waste management Randomized controlled trials Prevention of shootings (Crime) Poisson distribution Data analysis Statistical sampling Questionnaires Descriptive statistics Pre-tests & post-tests Statistics Maps Confidence intervals Data analysis software sug: subj: Crime prevention Sanitation Waste management Randomized controlled trials Pennsylvania Book, Periodical, and Newspaper Merchant Wholesalers Other printing Waste treatment and disposal Other Waste Collection Waste collection Solid Waste Landfill Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling Prevention of shootings (Crime) Poisson distribution Data analysis Statistical sampling Questionnaires Descriptive statistics Pre-tests & post-tests Statistics Maps Confidence intervals Data analysis software ab: Objectives. To determine if street cleaning interventions reduce gun violence and street crime. Methods. We conducted a stratified randomized controlled trial of 300 high gun violence street segments in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, assigned to either a street cleaning intervention or a no-intervention control. The intervention provided biweekly or monthly trash removal, weeding, and sidewalk sweeping. Some segments received enhanced services, including free trash and recycling bins. Results. The biweekly and monthly intervention significantly reduced visible litter, by 16% (95% confidence interval [CI] = −24%, −8%; P <.01) and 17% (95% CI = −28%, −5%; P <.05), respectively. The biweekly and monthly intervention yielded a statistically insignificant reduction in gun violence of 27% (incident rate ratio [IRR] = 0.73; 95% CI = 0.42, 1.28) and 4% (IRR = 0.96; 95% CI = 0.44, 2.06). Street crime outcomes were similarly insignificant. Conclusions. Basic environmental cleanups reduce visible litter but do not significantly reduce gun violence or street crime. More comprehensive place-based prevention strategies are likely needed. Public Health Implications. Scalable, nonpolicing public health approaches to reduce violence and serious crime should consider interventions that target broader environmental factors beyond basic street cleaning until further study demonstrates otherwise. (Am J Public Health. 2026;116(8):1171–1179. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2026.308429) pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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