IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/28068.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Domestic Violence in Los Angeles

Author

Listed:
  • Amalia R. Miller
  • Carmit Segal
  • Melissa K. Spencer

Abstract

Around the world, policymakers and news reports have warned that domestic violence (DV) could increase as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant restrictions on individual mobility and commercial activity. However, both anecdotal accounts and academic research have found inconsistent effects of the pandemic on DV across measures and cities. We use high-frequency, real-time data from Los Angeles on 911 calls, crime incidents, arrests, and calls to a DV hotline to study the effects of COVID-19 shutdowns on DV. We find conflicting effects within that single city and even across measures from the same source. We also find varying effects between the initial shutdown period and the one following the initial re-opening. DV calls to police and to the hotline increased during the initial shutdown, but DV crimes decreased, as did arrests for those crimes. The period following re-opening showed a continued decrease in DV crimes and arrests, as well as decreases in calls to the police and to the hotline. Our results highlight the heterogeneous effects of the pandemic across DV measures and caution against relying on a single data type or source.

Suggested Citation

  • Amalia R. Miller & Carmit Segal & Melissa K. Spencer, 2020. "Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Domestic Violence in Los Angeles," NBER Working Papers 28068, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28068
    Note: HE LE LS PE
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w28068.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Card & Gordon B. Dahl, 2011. "Family Violence and Football: The Effect of Unexpected Emotional Cues on Violent Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 126(1), pages 103-143.
    2. Lindsey Rose Bullinger & Jillian B. Carr & Analisa Packham, 2020. "COVID-19 and Crime: Effects of Stay-at-Home Orders on Domestic Violence," NBER Working Papers 27667, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Anna Aizer, 2010. "The Gender Wage Gap and Domestic Violence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1847-1859, September.
    4. Muchow, Ashley N. & Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina, 2020. "Immigration enforcement awareness and community engagement with police: Evidence from domestic violence calls in Los Angeles," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    5. Amalia R Miller & Carmit Segal, 2019. "Do Female Officers Improve Law Enforcement Quality? Effects on Crime Reporting and Domestic Violence," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 86(5), pages 2220-2247.
    6. Santiago Perez-Vincent & Enrique Carreras & María Amelia Gibbons & Tomás E. Murphy & Martín Rossi, 2020. "COVID-19 Lockdowns and Domestic Violence: Evidence from Two Studies in Argentina," Working Papers 143, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Jul 2020.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    RePEc Biblio mentions

    As found on the RePEc Biblio, the curated bibliography for Economics:
    1. > Economics of Welfare > Health Economics > Economics of Pandemics > Specific pandemics > Covid-19 > Economic consequences > Employment and Work > Intra-household allocation

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hugues Champeaux & Francesca Marchetta, 2021. "Couples in lockdown, "La vie en rose" ? Evidence from France," CERDI Working papers hal-03149087, HAL.
    2. Denti, Daria & Iammarino, Simona, 2022. "Coming Out of the Woods. Do local support services influence the propensity to report sexual violence?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 334-352.
    3. Sonia Bhalotra & Emilia Brito & Damian Clarke & Pilar Larroulet & Francisco J. Pino, 2021. "Dynamic impacts of lockdown on domestic violence: Evidence from multiple policy shifts in Chile," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-189, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Alexander Henke & Linchi Hsu, 2022. "COVID-19 and Domestic Violence: Economics or Isolation?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 296-309, June.
    5. Diana Jiménez-Rodríguez & María Teresa Belmonte García & Azucena Santillán García & Fernando Jesús Plaza del Pino & Alicia Ponce-Valencia & Oscar Arrogante, 2020. "Nurse Training in Gender-Based Violence Using Simulated Nursing Video Consultations during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-15, November.
    6. Kyriakos C. Neanidis & Maria Paola Rana, 2021. "Crime in the Era of COVID-19: Evidence from England," Economics Discussion Paper Series 2103, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    7. Miller, Amalia R. & Segal, Carmit & Spencer, Melissa K., 2022. "Effects of COVID‐19 shutdowns on domestic violence in US cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    8. Berniell, Inés & Facchini, Gabriel, 2021. "COVID-19 lockdown and domestic violence: Evidence from internet-search behavior in 11 countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Santiago M. Perez-Vincent & Enrique Carreras, 2022. "Domestic violence reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from Latin America," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 799-830, September.
    2. Sofia Amaral & Sonia Bhalotra & Nishith Prakash, 2019. "Gender, Crime and Punishment: Evidence from Women Police Stations in India," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-309, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    3. Denti, Daria & Iammarino, Simona, 2022. "Coming Out of the Woods. Do local support services influence the propensity to report sexual violence?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 334-352.
    4. Sofia Amaral & Victoria Endl-Geyer & Helmut Rainer, 2020. "Familiäre Gewalt und die Covid-19-Pandemie: Ein Überblick über die erwarteten Auswirkungen und mögliche Auswege," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 73(07), pages 52-56, July.
    5. M. Amelia Gibbons & Tommy E. Murphy & Martín A. Rossi, 2021. "Confinement and intimate partner violence," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 349-361, August.
    6. Bhuller, Manudeep & Dahl, Gordon B. & Løken, Katrine V. & Mogstad, Magne, 2022. "Domestic Violence and the Mental Health and Well-being of Victims and Their Children," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 21/2022, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    7. Perrotta Berlin, Maria & Gerrell, Manne, 2022. "Economic Determinants of Intimate Partner Violence: The Case of Sweden during Covid-19," SITE Working Paper Series 60, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics.
    8. Somville, Vincent, 2019. "Having a Daughter Reduces Male Violence Against a Partner," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 24/2019, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    9. Hoehn-Velasco, Lauren & Silverio-Murillo, Adan & de la Miyar, Jose Roberto Balmori, 2021. "The great crime recovery: Crimes against women during, and after, the COVID-19 lockdown in Mexico," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    10. Sofia Amaral & Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay & Rudra Sensarma, 2015. "Public Work Programs and Gender-based Violence: The Case of NREGA in India," Discussion Papers 15-09, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    11. David Card & Gordon B. Dahl, 2011. "Family Violence and Football: The Effect of Unexpected Emotional Cues on Violent Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 126(1), pages 103-143.
    12. Ceren Baysan & Marshall Burke & Felipe González & Solomon Hsiang & Edward Miguel, 2018. "Economic and Non-Economic Factors in Violence: Evidence from Organized Crime, Suicides and Climate in Mexico," NBER Working Papers 24897, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Ana Tur-Prats, 2017. "Unemployment and intimate-partner violence: A gender-identity approach," Economics Working Papers 1564, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    14. Sonia Bhalotra & Emilia Brito & Damian Clarke & Pilar Larroulet & Francisco J. Pino, 2021. "Dynamic impacts of lockdown on domestic violence: Evidence from multiple policy shifts in Chile," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-189, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Saloni Khurana & Kanika Mahajan, 2022. "Public Safety for Women: Is Regulation of Social Drinking Spaces Effective?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(1), pages 164-182, January.
    16. Bruno Cardinale Lagomarsino & Martín Rossi, 2017. "Subsidized Home–ownership Programs, Transaction Costs, and Domestic Violence," Working Papers 129, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Apr 2017.
    17. Louis-Philippe Beland & Abel Brodeur & Joanne Haddad & Derek Mikola, 2020. "Determinants of Family Stress and Domestic Violence: Lessons from the COVID-19 Outbreak," Carleton Economic Papers 20-09, Carleton University, Department of Economics, revised Apr 2021.
    18. Bhalotra,Sonia R. & Kambhampati,Uma & Rawlings,Samantha & Siddique,Zahra, 2020. "Intimate Partner Violence : The Influence of Job Opportunities for Men and Women," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9118, The World Bank.
    19. Kyriakos C. Neanidis & Maria Paola Rana, 2021. "Crime in the Era of COVID-19: Evidence from England," Economics Discussion Paper Series 2103, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    20. Vladimir Otrachshenko & Olga Popova & José Tavares, 2021. "Extreme Temperature And Extreme Violence: Evidence From Russia," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(1), pages 243-262, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28068. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.