Femicide and COVID-19 Pandemic: Examining the Situation in Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Slovenia

• In Event: Roundtable: Trends in Intimate Partner Homicide During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Theoretical Explanations and Criminal Policy Implications

Abstract

Government measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 affected crime opportunities and criminal justice systems, resulting in changes in crime trends. This paper explores the effects of restrictions (lockdowns) on the number of femicides. The monthly data on femicides from 2017 to 2021 was collected in five Central and Southeastern European countries: Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Slovenia. The total number of femicides in the period from 2017 to 2021 decreased in all observed countries. Increases were detected in Croatia and Slovenia in 2020. However, they presented an exception to the general trend. The monthly distribution of femicides showed that there was no common point peak month(s) among observed countries. Analysing the effects of the level of restrictions using the Stringency Index on the number of femicides confirmed the initial observation that the number of femicides was not dependent on lockdown measures. In general, the findings show that restriction measures had no effect on the number of femicides in the studied countries.

Authors

• Rok Hacin, University of Maribor

• Gorazd Meško, University of Maribor