Remote Learning as a Natural Experiment: Analyzing Crime Near Schools Pre- and Post-COVID

• In Event: Communities and Place: How Environments Shape Criminal Opportunities and Prevention Strategies

Abstract

Certain features of the built environment, such as alcohol outlets and pawn shops, influence local crime patterns by generating or attracting crime. Yet, the role of schools as crime generators remains underexamined. Schools may act as crime attractors as many spatially dispersed adolescents—who have an elevated propensity to engage in crime—concentrate on a predictable and routine pattern in smaller locations (i.e., school settings). This study leverages the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment to examine crime patterns near middle and high schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, before, during, and after the implementation of remote learning. Using a combined time-window and event-based analysis, we assess police calls for service and crime incidents within 0.25-, 0.5-, and 1-mile buffers around schools. This study offers insight into the complex relationship between schools and crime by analyzing crime trends across school-day phases (i.e., arrival, in-school, and departure).

Authors

• Kyra Grunewald, University of North Dakota

• Jon Maskaly, University of North Dakota