Crimbrary

Winter Thaws Can Bring Violent Crime Spikes: Study
"Criminologists have long known crime rates go up in the summer, but new research published in the journal GeoHealth also connects sharp climate changes in cold weather to higher crime rates.

Researchers looked at the specific impact weather has on violent crime during the winter months, when crime rates generally are thought to drop. They found that the relationship between temperature and violent crime was strong in the winter as well as the summer.

'As an example, it’s usually 20 degrees in Boulder, [but a rise on a] January day to 40 degrees will have more of a difference on peoples’ behaviors than going, say, 60 degrees to 80 degrees in the summer,' said lead researcher Ryan D. Harp, a PhD student at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

The study, entitled 'The Influence of Interannual Climate Variability on Regional Violent Crime Rates in the United States,' gathered crime data from the Uniform Crime Reporting program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and collected climate data form the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, part of the National Oceanic Administration."

Link to Complete Study