Another way to control for it is to increase or decrease lighting in some locations while leaving others the same and see what changes occur to crime rates. That has been done at least once, in Chicago where low-output lights were replaced with much brighter lights in some alleys but not others, with controls for various demographic factors and prior crime rates.
The result was that crime increased where brighter lighting was used. One plausible explanation is that committing crimes, like most human activities is easier when there's sufficient light to see what you're doing, and using a flashlight is a poor option when you want to avoid calling attention to your illegal behavior.
That's only true for victimless crimes, and the bulk of the increase in non-index crimes in the study was drug-related. The study mentions increased reporting due to visibility as an explanation.
The index crimes increased as well. Those include homicide, assault, burglary and theft, all of which have victims.
The result was that crime increased where brighter lighting was used. One plausible explanation is that committing crimes, like most human activities is easier when there's sufficient light to see what you're doing, and using a flashlight is a poor option when you want to avoid calling attention to your illegal behavior.
http://www.popcenter.org/library/scp/pdf/130-Morrow_Hutton.p...