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Cybercrime in America amid COVID-19: the Initial Results from a Natural
Experiment
#MMPMID32837157
Hawdon J
; Parti K
; Dearden TE
Am J Crim Justice
2020[]; 45
(4
): 546-562
PMID32837157
show ga
The COVID-19 pandemic has radically altered life, killing hundreds of thousands
of people and leading many countries to issue "stay-at-home" orders to contain
the virus's spread. Based on insights from routine activity theory (Cohen &
Felson 1979), it is likely that COVID-19 will influence victimization rates as
people alter their routines and spend more time at home and less time in public.
Yet, the pandemic may affect victimization differently depending on the type of
crime as street crimes appear to be decreasing while domestic crimes may be
increasing. We consider a third type of crime: cybercrime. Treating the pandemic
as a natural experiment, we investigate how the pandemic has affected rates of
cybervictimization. We compare pre-pandemic rates of victimization with
post-pandemic rates of victimization using datasets designed to track cybercrime.
After considering how the pandemic may alter routines and affect
cybervictimization, we find that the pandemic has not radically altered
cyberroutines nor changed cybervictimization rates. However, a model using
routine activity theory to predict cybervictimization offers clear support for
the theory's efficacy both before and after the pandemic. We conclude by
considering plausible explanations for our findings.
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