This article explains some British experience on playing classical music in public places and the effect on behaviour of people.
It seems that the feeling (was it measured?) was that it prevented youths from loitering in public places. But is there an effect on crime rate or violence measurements?
As far as I understand this, the aim of playing classical music is not to affect the behaviour of people through subconscious tricks.
It’s much more direct than that: young people in general dislike classical music and won’t be inclined to linger in public places that play classical music.
As to whether this works, my guess is as good as anyone’s.
Playing any music could have an potential impact on a persons mood/behaviour. Although the effects I suspect would be quite subtle in many cases.
However simply playing "classical" or orchestral music wouldn't cut the mustard - you'd have to look at the features of the music itself.
An orchestral piece full of bombast or of a high tempo is likely to have the same effect as a drum heavy metal track.
This paper: David L. Wiesenthal1,*, Dwight A. Hennessy, Brad Totten (2006)The Influence of Music on Driver Stress - found that driver stress could be reduced by allowing drivers to listen to some music of their own choosing.
This paper: Warren Brodsky (2002) The effects of music tempo on simulated driving performance and vehicular control - found that the tempo of music can affect an individuals arousal with faster tempo music (regardless of genre) consistantly being linked with poor driving.
