Crime Rates and Criminal Justice Policies in the Advent of COVID-19 Pandemic: Some Criminological Issues

Author

Department of Law and Jurisprudence of the Institute for Research and Development in Humanities,Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The present article focuses on some significant aspects of COVID-19 outbreak from the perspective of criminology, as a specific discipline in social and criminal sciences. As a criminological enterprise, two main topics are considered in the light of the aim and scope of the present journal in the field of economics and politics from a comparative viewpoint between Iran’s and world’s Data, as appropriate. These topics include the issues of criminal justice policy which encompass the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on criminal policies relating to or arising from crime rates, emphasizing on economic crimes, and in area of criminal justice system, focusing on the prison system and prevention of crime. The article concludes that the current pandemic has serious impacts on crime rates and criminal justice policies based on the assumption that ‘disease’ alongside ‘crime’ endanger physical and mental aspects of human health.

Keywords


Abrams, D. S. (2020). “Crime in the Time of COVID”. Crime and Criminal Justice: Econofact. Available at https://econofact.org/crime-in-the-time-of-covid (March 30, 2021).
- Akers, T. A. and Lanier, M. M. (2009). “Epidemiological Criminology: Coming Full Circle”, Am J Public Health, 99(3): 397–402.
-“A New Covid-19 Crisis: Domestic Abuse Rises Worldwide: The Interpreter”. The New York Times. Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/world/coronavirus-domestic-violence.html (April 14, 2020)
-Ashton, M. C. (2018). “Mental Ability”, in Ashton, Michael C. Individual Differences and Personality. Third Edition. Academic Press (Elsevier Inc.).
-Bagheri Rad, S. (1399, Ordibehesht. 27 [2020, May. 17 A.D.]). “Raast va Doruq-e Afzaayesh-e Khoshoonat-e Khaanegi dar ruzhaa-ye quarantine” [in English: “The Truth about Increase in Domestic Violence in Quarantine”]. Mehr News. Available at http://www.mehrnews.com/news/4926214
-Bettinger-Lopez, Caroline, Bro, Alexandra (2020). “A Double Pandemic: Domestic Violence in the Age of COVID-19”, Council on Foreign Relations. Available at https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/double-pandemic-domestic-violence-age-covid-19
-Cambridge Dictionary, crime rate. Available at
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/crime-rate (October 25, 2021)
-Colquhoun, I. (2004). Design out Crime: Creating Safe and Sustainable Communities. 1st Published: Routledge.
-European Economic and Social Committee. Related Press releases. Available at https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en/news-media/press-releases/europe-must-act-single-country-against-organised-crime (11/03/2021)
-Dictionary.com, quarantine. Available at https://www.dictionary.com/browse/quarantine (October 23, 2021)
-Durrant, R. Ward, T. (2015). “Social-Structural and Cultural Explanations”, in Durrant, R. Ward, T. Evolutionary Criminology: Towards a Comprehensive Explanation of Crime. Academic Press (Elsevier Inc.), doi.org/10.1016/C2012-0-00324-9
-Elinson, Z. and Gurman, S. (2020). “Prisoners Riot as Coronavirus Tensions Rise”. The Wall Street Journal. Available at https://www.wsj.com/articles/prisoners-riot-as-coronavirus-tensions-rise-11586469284 (April 9, 2020)
-Fattah, E. A. (1997). Criminology: Past, Present and Future. London & New York: MacMillan Press LTD.
-Garner, B. [ed.] (2009). Black’s Law Dictionary. Ninth Edition. USA: Thomson-West.
-Gassin, R., Cimamonti, S. & Bonflis, Ph. (2011). Criminilogie (in English: Criminology). 7e ed. Paris: Dalloz: Precis Broche.
-Global Initiative (2020). Crime and Contagion: The Impact of a Pandemic on Organized Crime. Switzerland: Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.
-Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trafficking in Persons: Preliminary findings and messaging based on rapid stocktaking (n.d.). UNODC: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Available at
https://www.unodc.org/documents/Advocacy-Section/HTMSS_Thematic_Brief_on_COVID-19.pdf
-Inter-Agency Statement on Violence against Women and Girls in the Context of COVID-19 (n.d.). United Nations. Available at https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/Inter-AgencyStatementVAW-and-COVID.pdf
-Lederer, E. M. (2020). “Crime Rates Plummet around the World as the Coronavirus Keeps People Inside”. Time Magazine. Available at https://time.com/5819507/criminal/
-Maajeraa-ye Faraar az Zendaan-e Saqez, Daadrasi-ye Corona, va Baazdaasht-e Soltaan-e Sookht [in English: The Story of Escaping from Saqez Prison, the Corona Trial and the Arrest of the Oil King], Khabar Online. Available at https://www.khabaronline.ir/news/1373912/ (19 Farvardin, 1399/7 April, 2020).
-McLaughlin, E. and Muncie, J. (2019). The SAGE Dictionary of Criminology, Fourth Edition, SAGE Publications.
-Nightingale, L. (2020). “Helping Domestic Abuse Victims during Quarantine”. Psychotherapy. Available at https://www.psychotherapy.net/article/domestic-abuse-during-quarantine
-Perra, N. (2021). “Non-pharmaceutical interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic: A review”. Physics Reports. 913: 1-52, doi: 10.1016/j.physrep.2021.02.001
-Peterman, A. et al. (2020). “Pandemics and Violence against Women and Children”. Working Paper 528 on behalf of the Gender and COVID-19 Working Group. Center for Global Development (Washington DC).
-Roshanfekr, P. (2021). Moqadame-ye Mehvar-e Vizhe: Paaydari va Naapaydari-ye jaame’e-ye Iran dar Aayene-ye Corona (in English: The Introduction of Special Theme: Stability and Instability of Iranian Society in the Mirror of Coronavirus). Iranian Sociological Association. Available at http://www.isa.org.ir
-Salt Lake City COVID-19 Information (n.d.). Available at https://www.slc.gov/mayor/covid-19/
-Summers, J. (2020). “How is COVID-19 affecting white-collar crime risks and enforcement? Special Report: White-Collar Crime”. Financier Worldwide Magazine. Available at https://www.financierworldwide.com/how-is-covid-19-affecting-white-collar-crime-risks-and-enforcement (July 2020)
-“Ra’eisi baraa-ye Zendaaniyaan che Kard?” [in English: “What did the Head of the Judiciary for the Prisoners?”] Tasnim News, at https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1400/03/15/2515794/ (Khordad 1400/June 2021 AD).
-Robbins, S. (2020). “Coronavirus Unrest Sparks Surge in Riots in Latin America’s Prisons”. Insight Crime. Available at https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/coronavirus-unrest-prison-riots/ (July 22, 2020)
-Scott, D. and Sim, J. (2020a). “Coronavirus and Prisons: the need for Radical Alternatives”. New Socialist: Theory and Strategy. Available at https://newsocialist.org.uk/coronavirus-and-prisons-need-radical-alternatives/
-Scott, D. and Sim, J. (2020b). “Reflections on COVID-19, Prisons and Legal Activism”. Harm & Evidence Research Collaborative (Open University). Available at
https://www.open.ac.uk/researchcentres/herc/blog/reflections-covid-19-prisons-and-legal-activism
-Scott, D. and Sim, J. (2020c). “The coronavirus pandemic and prison policy”. Open Learn: Research in time of Covid-19. Available at http://fass.open.ac.uk/schools/school-social-sciences-global-studies/blogs/covid-19
-Stickle, B. Felson, M. (2020). “Crime Rates in a Pandemic: the Largest Criminological Experiment in History”. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 45: 525-536.
-The Directive to All Judicial Authorities. The Head of the Judiciary, No. 9000/214056/100, 98/12/07
 -The Directive to All Judicial Authorities throughout the Country. The Head of the Judiciary, No. 9000/214260/100, 98/12/07
-United Nations Standards Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules). Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 17 December 2015, A/RES/70/175.
-“When quarantine is unsafe: Domestic violence survivors seek help in Ukraine”. United Nations Population Fund. Available at https://www.unfpa.org/news/when-quarantine-unsafe-domestic-violence-survivors-seek-help-ukraine (April 15, 2020)
-Zeveleva, O. (2020). “Prison Riots and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Global Uprising?” Gulag Echoes in the Media. Available at https://blogs.helsinki.fi/gulagechoes/gulag-echoes-in-the-media/ (April 15, 2020)
Volume 2, Issue 2
2021
Pages 239-256
  • Receive Date: 29 October 2021
  • Accept Date: 29 October 2021
  • First Publish Date: 29 October 2021
  • Publish Date: 01 October 2021