There are a number of reasons why better weather can lead to an increase in violent crime, according to a Clinical Psychologist
An expert has explained why crime goes up when the weather is nice. If the sun is out, you may have noticed a rise in violent crime. It’s not always the case that it rises and London’s no stranger to crime in the winter.
But since the weather has looked up in the last couple of weeks, so too violent crime has risen.
These include, but are not limited to, Finbar Sullivan being stabbed to death in Primrose Hill, a fatal stabbing in Shadwell, and a man being shot in Camberwell. We spoke to Dr Tracy King, a Clinical Psychologist since 2007.
Dr King works in a private practice, having previously worked in prisons and Broadmoor Hospital. She said there are a number of reasons why higher temperatures play a role in the increase of violent crimes.
The first is biology, as heat can negatively affect the nervous system. She told MyLondon that research suggests heat puts ‘extra stress’ on the nervous system, which is ‘something else that we have to process’.
She said: “We have something called a Vagus nerve, which is what helps us balance whether we’re in fight or flight, shutdown, or we’re in what’s called a rest or digest state. If we’ve got an extra stressor, like heat, that’s dehydrating the system, it’s something the system’s got to process. It increases people’s generic irritability.”
This increases the likelihood of ‘opportunistic’ crime due to heightened ‘reactiveness.’
People drink more alcohol
Another reason we see more crime is that nicer weather makes us Londoners drink ‘a lot more’. Booze acts as a ‘disinhibitor’ and when it’s in our system ‘aggression will happen a lot more freely’.
Dr King clarified this isn’t for everyone, though, just those who’re ‘generally aggressive.’ She said: “It can push people who wouldn’t normally move into that [aggression], but usually it’s the people who have got that baseline aggression that are going to be so much more able to be reactive with it if there is that disinhibition of the alcohol.”
More people around
If the weather is nicer, then more people are likely to be around. This means it’s likely ‘to be a bigger time for somebody to act’.
She added the weather leaves people focused on the nice elements, which ‘means people are less cautious.’ However, this can have a reverse effect on those who aren’t prone to violence.
Dr King said: “For the people that are just living their lives, nicer weather can often kind of help us connect a bit more with joy, and then we go about our daily business feeling more in rest and digest. So vitamin D and the heat can have a really calming effect on the system if your temperament is such that it would do.”
How to solve the problem
She clarified she doesn’t want to ruin people’s fun when the weather’s nice, but similarly, people should learn that ‘we need to be just as cautious on a hot sunny day as we would in a dark, scary alleyway at night.’
She added: “It’s not that one place is less risky than the other. Potentially, the types of risk might be different, but effectively, we still have to have our wits about us and be aware of things from a victimology position.”
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