A global analysis of the impact of COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions on crime.

Nivette AE, Zahnow R, Aguilar R, Ahven A, Amram S, Ariel B, Burbano MJA, Astolfi R, Baier D, Bark H, Beijers JEH, Bergman M, Breetzke G, Concha-Eastman IA, Curtis-Ham S, Davenport R, Díaz C, Fleitas D, Gerell M, Jang K, Kääriäinen J, Lappi-Seppälä T, Lim W, Revilla RL, Mazerolle L, Meško G, Pereda N, Peres MFT, Poblete-Cazenave R, Rose S, Svensson R, Trajtenberg N, van der Lippe T, Veldkamp J, Perdomo CJV, Eisner MP

Nat Hum Behav - (-) - [2021-06-02; online 2021-06-02]

The stay-at-home restrictions to control the spread of COVID-19 led to unparalleled sudden change in daily life, but it is unclear how they affected urban crime globally. We collected data on daily counts of crime in 27 cities across 23 countries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. We conducted interrupted time series analyses to assess the impact of stay-at-home restrictions on different types of crime in each city. Our findings show that the stay-at-home policies were associated with a considerable drop in urban crime, but with substantial variation across cities and types of crime. Meta-regression results showed that more stringent restrictions over movement in public space were predictive of larger declines in crime.

Category: Social Science & Humanities

Type: Journal article

PubMed 34079096

DOI 10.1038/s41562-021-01139-z

Crossref 10.1038/s41562-021-01139-z

pii: 10.1038/s41562-021-01139-z


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