COVID-19 and crime: Analysis of crime dynamics amidst social distancing protocols

PLoS One. 2021 Apr 1;16(4):e0249414. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249414. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

In response to the pandemic in early 2020, cities implemented states of emergency and stay at home orders to reduce virus spread. Changes in social dynamics due to local restrictions impacted human behavior and led to a shift in crime dynamics. We analyze shifts in crime types by comparing crimes before the implementation of stay at home orders and the time period shortly after these orders were put in place across three cities. We find consistent changes across Chicago, Baltimore, and Baton Rouge with significant declines in total crimes during the time period immediately following stay at home orders. The starkest differences occurred in Chicago, but in all three cities the crime types contributing to these declines were related to property crime and statutory crime rather than interpersonal crimes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Baltimore
  • COVID-19*
  • Chicago
  • Crime / statistics & numerical data*
  • Humans
  • Louisiana
  • Pandemics*
  • Quarantine*

Grants and funding

LJG is supported by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), which is funded through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (http://www.nimbios.org/). SMS is funded through the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship (https://ndseg.sysplus.com/).