Abstract
Data from Chicago city in Illinois State of the U.S. was extracted to estimate the effects of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic on crime. There was a general drop in reported crimes, which appeared to precede the stay-at-home orders, and then there was a sudden increase in non-residential car theft after the stay-at-home order issued in March. This change suggested that criminal activity was “substituted” as most people would be staying at home with minimal surveillance of the vehicles which were parked elsewhere. On the contrary, there was an immediate increase in domestic crime from January onwards. This study aims to figure out the impact of the pandemic on changing trends in crime by running various GIS methods. As a result, monthly change of spatial pattern, change in domestic crime and motor theft, and the relationship between some socioeconomic factors and crimes were analyzed. Evidence showed that there was a need to establish an association between crime rates with social and health data to ensure adequate investment in social safety net and programs to strengthen social resilience given that the pandemic was likely to continue for months if not years.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
ABC News (2020) Timeline: how coronavirus got started. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/timeline-coronavirus-started/story?id=69435165. Accessed 23 Oct 2020
IIEP (2020) Institute for international economic policy. https://iiep.gwu.edu/category/past-events/. Accessed 23 Oct 2020
WebMD (2020) Study finds rise in domestic violence during COVID. https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200818/radiology-study-suggests-horrifying-rise-in-domestic-violence-during-pandemic#1. Accessed October 23, 2020
Bird L, Bish A, Gastelum Felix S, Gastrow P, Mora Gomez M, Kemp W, Kimani J, Meegan-Vickers J, Mejdini F, Micallef M, Tagziria L, Tennant I, Rademeyer J, Reitano T, Scaturro R, Sellar J, Shaw M, Stanyard J (2020) Policy brief: the impact of a pandemic on organized crime - crime and contagion. https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CovidPB1rev.04.04.v1.pdf [i] . Accessed 23 Oct 2020
McDonald JF, Balkin S (2020) The COVID-19 and the decline in crime. SSRN Electron J. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3567500
Campedelli GM, Aziani A, Favarin S (2020) Exploring the effects of COVID-19 containment policies on crime: an empirical analysis of the short-term aftermath in Los Angeles. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/gcpq8
Payne JL, Morgan A (2020) COVID-19 and violent crime: a comparison of recorded offence rates and dynamic forecasts (ARIMA) for March 2020 in Queensland, Australia. SocArXiv g4kh7, Center for open science
NYT (2020) The pandemic has hindered many of the best ideas for reducing violence. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/06/upshot/crime-pandemic-cities.html. Accessed 27 Oct 2020
Halford E, Dixon A, Farrell G, Malleson N, Tilley N (2020) Crime and coronavirus: social distancing, lockdown, and the mobility elasticity of crime. Crime Sci 9(1):11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40163-020-00121-w
Leslie E, Wilson R (2020) Sheltering in place and domestic violence: evidence from calls for service during COVID-19. SSRN Electron J. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3600646
Piquero AR, Riddell JR, Bishopp SA, Narvey C, Reid JA, Piquero NL (2020) Staying home, staying safe? A short-term analysis of COVID-19 on dallas domestic violence. Am J Crim Justice 45(4):601–635. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09531-7
Abrams DS (2020) COVID and crime: an early empirical look. SSRN Electron J. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3674032
WSJ (2020). Coronavirus pandemic changes policing, including fewer arrests. https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-pandemic-changes-policing-including-fewer-arrests-11585301402. Accessed 26 Oct 2020
LUC (2020) Covid-19's effect on Chicago crime trends. https://www.covidcrime-chicago.com/. Accessed 27 Oct 2020
Ester M, Kriegel HP, Sander J, Xu X (1996) A density-based algorithm for discovering clusters in large spatial databases with noise. Kdd 96(34):226–231
Chicago Stay At Home FAQ. (2020) https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/mayor/Press Room/Press Releases/2020/March/FAQsStayAtHomeOrder.pdf. Accessed 30 Oct 2020
Bachman D (2020) The economic impact of COVID-19 | deloitte insights. (2020) https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/economy/covid-19/economic-impact-covid-19.html. Accessed 30 Oct 2020
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Yang, S., Kang, S., Low, S., Wang, L. (2022). Spatial Perspectives of Crime Patterns in Chicago Amid Covid-19. In: Kundu, S.N. (eds) Geospatial Data Analytics and Urban Applications. Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7649-9_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7649-9_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-16-7648-2
Online ISBN: 978-981-16-7649-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)