Crimes in the Time of COVID-19

Abstract

Due to the current pandemic, governments all over the world have given stay at home orders and have advised people to follow precautions like social distancing. These measures have a significant impact on our social, economic, and political setting which ultimately affects the volume and distribution of crimes worldwide. To understand the impact of social distancing policies on crime, we have compared the crime statistics during the pandemic (2020) with that of the previous year (2019) for the two metropolitan cities New Delhi, India, and New York, USA. We observe the trends of different types of crime and conclude that while crimes like residential burglaries have reduced, crimes like domestic violence have increased significantly. A rise in commercial burglaries1 was observed in New York whereas in New Delhi a decline was observed because of the presence of the police on roads. Furthermore, A decline in crimes like robbery, burglary, larceny, etc. was observed whereas a sharp increase was seen in the cases of domestic violence in both the cities.