Investigating Crime During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Major U.S. Cities

This study aims to contribute to the ongoing research of the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and crime using four major U.S. cities: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Both COVID and crime case counts were compiled from local health and safety departments’ data repositories. COVID data was accumulated from the onset of the pandemic in the United States to the most recently posted case counts in each city. Crime data was compiled from before the onset of the pandemic in 2018 through the end of 2021. Results demonstrate a statistically significant decline in criminal activity during the pandemic when compared to pre-pandemic trends. The findings of this paper support previous literature in the evaluation of the pandemic on crime