A critical study of Covid-19 pandemics on crime rates in India

Aparna Kulkarni^1,· , Sarthak Singh²

¹Assistant Professor, St. Xavier College, Mumbai, India

²Graduate Student of St.Xavier’s College, Mumbai, India

Article History

Received: 1 June 2021 Revised: 29 August 2021 Accepted: 2 September 2021 Available Online: 10 September 2021

Keywords: Covid - 19 pandemic, unemployment rate, crime rate.

JEL classification: C1, I1, J1

Citation: Kulkarni, A. & Singh, S. (2021). A critical study of Covid-19 pandemics on crime rates in India, Review of Socio-Economic Perspectives, Vol 6(3), 41-46.

Abstract

Covid - 19 pandemic has wide ranging repercussions including the direct and massive impact on the employment sector. The sudden outbreak of this virus affected the labor market in immeasurable ways and in order to curb this menace, the need of the hour was a nationwide lockdown. As a result, people ran out of jobs and unemployment rates escalated. People were bogged down into situations of poverty, starvation, and misery. Sadly, many of them indulged in activities like robbery, dacoity, etc. in order to sustain and support their families. Thus, covid aftermath wasn’t restricted to rise in unemployment rates, but also led to spike in crime rates in India. Through this paper, we have studied the impact of the pandemic on crime rates. Our paper treats literacy rate, infant mortality rate, per capita income and unemployment rate as factors affecting crime rates, with unemployment rate being a major determinant. Multiple regression model is used to test the hypothesis that the pandemic scaled up unemployment rates, thereby leading to a surge in crime rates.

E-mail: aparna.kulkarni@xaviers.edu & ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8381-6862

DOI: https://doi.org/10.19275/RSEP119

Article Type: Original Paper

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