Weather and crime: a systematic review of the empirical literature

Abstract

The weather-crime association has intrigued scholars for more than 150 years. While there is a long-standing history of scholarly interest in the weather-crime association, the last decade has evidenced a marked increase in the volume and diversity of empirical studies concerned with weather and its social implications including crime. In this paper we conduct a review of the empirical literature on weather and crime. This is the first review on the topic for more than 30 years. We highlight the theoretic and empirical challenges that persist and act to impede our understanding and chart four interrelated thematic areas that require concerted attention. These are to: (1) strengthen and integrate theoretical explanations of the weather-crime association; (2) model multi-dimensional processes of the weather-crime association; (3) broaden the situational, climatic, and cultural contexts of study; and (4) to translate research into policy and practice. We conclude by advocating for scholarship to advance the four thematic areas such that we progress towards a more complete and robust understanding of the weather-crime association.