Music Linked To Reduced Criminality

Music Linked To Reduced Criminality; Source: MuSICA Research Notes, Volume VII, Issue 1, Winter 2000
: Martin Gardiner of Brown University recently reported, at a national arts
education meeting in Oklahoma City, the results of analyzing a large-scale
database. The database included information gathered over a period of many
years for more than a thousand residents of Rhode Island.; Tracking people from birth through the age of thirty, Gardiner checked the
relationship between arrest records of teenagers and their degree of
involvement in music.; Gardiner found that the greater the involvement in music, the lower the arrest
record. Teens who had music education were less likely to get into trouble than
students who did not. However, those who also were involved in playing a musical
instrument had even fewer brushes with the law. Those who had the most experience,
including good sight-reading ability, had a negligible arrest record.; This research, still in progress, was funded by the
International Foundation for Music Research (IFMR).; We will be watching for additional updates about this study.