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COVID‐19's Lockdown and Crime Victimization: The State of Emergency under the Abe Administration

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  • Yichen Shen
  • Rong Fu
  • Haruko Noguchi

Abstract

COVID‐19 has led many governments to impose lockdowns in efforts to reduce the spread of the virus. One of the many consequences of the lockdown is a reduction in crime. We apply a difference‐in‐differences approach to the 2018–2020 Crime Statistics to investigate the effect of the 2020 lockdown on crime victimization in Japan. We find that the 2020 lockdown leads to 12.7% and 20.9% declines in violent and property crime victimization rates per 100,000 people, respectively. Moreover, we observe that premeditated crimes, such as breaking‐and‐entering and sexual assault, decline more than non‐premeditated crimes, such as homicide. We also explore the heterogeneous effects of the lockdown by age groups. We observe that there is a significant decline in sexual assault victimization for those between the ages of 0 and 29, and there are significant declines in overall violent and property crime victimizations and their subtypes for those between ages of 30 and 59. Finally, we show that there is an improvement in suicide rates, which suggests that better mental health is the mechanism partially mediating the relationship between lockdown and crime victimization.

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  • Yichen Shen & Rong Fu & Haruko Noguchi, 2021. "COVID‐19's Lockdown and Crime Victimization: The State of Emergency under the Abe Administration," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 16(2), pages 327-348, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:asiapr:v:16:y:2021:i:2:p:327-348
    DOI: 10.1111/aepr.12339
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    1. Moslehi, Solmaz & Parasnis, Jaai & Tani, Massimiliano & Vejayaratnam, Josephina, 2021. "Assaults during Lockdown in NSW and Victoria," IZA Discussion Papers 14573, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Yoko Ibuka, 2021. "Comment on “COVID‐19’s Lockdown and Crime Victimization: The State of Emergency under the Abe Administration”," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 16(2), pages 351-352, July.
    3. Solmaz Moslehi & Jaai Parasnis & Massimiliano Tani & Josephina Vejayaratnam, 2021. "Assaults during lockdown in New South Wales and Victoria," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 24(2), pages 199-212.
    4. Masako Ii, 2021. "Comment on “COVID‐19's Lockdown and Crime Victimization: The State of Emergency under the Abe Administration”," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 16(2), pages 349-350, July.
    5. Xinyu Zhang & Peng Chen, 2023. "The Impact of Urban Facilities on Crime during the Pre- and Pandemic Periods: A Practical Study in Beijing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-16, January.
    6. Ruiz Sánchez, Gerardo, 2021. "Monthly suicide rates during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Japan," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    7. Takatoshi Ito & Kazumasa Iwata & Colin McKenzie & Shujiro Urata, 2021. "The Post‐Abenomics Japanese Economy: Editors' Overview," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 16(2), pages 169-189, July.

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