Changing patterns of domestic abuse during Covid-19 lockdown

Ria Ivandic, Tom Kirchmaier () and Ben Linton

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: The effects of preventing a COVID-19 health crisis have had unintended consequences on domestic abuse (DA) victimization. We contribute to the literature on domestic abuse in lockdown by providing insight on how changing patterns of domestic abuse can explain differences in magnitudes reported across studies. We examine the patterns of domestic abuse during the COVID-19 lockdown in Greater London and find that the lockdown changed the nature of reporting and the type of relationship the abuse occurs within. While abuse by current partners as well as family members increased on average by 8.1% and 17.1% respectively over the lockdown period, abuse by ex-partners declined by 11.4%. These findings show that reporting the average change in domestic abuse during lockdown can be misleading when designing a policy response. Moreover, we show that all the increase in domestic abuse calls is driven by third party reporting, particularly evident in areas with high density. This suggests that under reporting is present in the lockdown, particularly in households where the abuse cannot be reported by an outsider. Although these findings pertain to the COVID-19 lockdown, they also highlight the role that victim exposure and proximity has in affecting domestic abuse.

Keywords: coronavirus; Covid-19; lockdown; domestic abuse; domestic violence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53 pages
Date: 2020-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Working Paper: Changing patterns of domestic abuse during Covid-19 lockdown (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:108483

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