Scientific inquiries into the relationship between climate and crime began during the early nineteenth century. Usually climate has referred to the monthly or seasonal mean temperatures and crime has been classified into two types: crimes against the person (or violent crimes such as homicide, rape, assault, and robbery); and crimes against property (such as burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft).
During the nineteenth century A.M. Guerry in France and A. Quetelet in Belgium, in two independent studies, observed the coincidence of higher frequencies of crimes against persons in warmer areas and during warmer months. Moreover, crimes against property increased in winter months and in cooler areas. Quetelet conceptualized these observations into the Thermic Law of Delinquency (Cohen, 1941; Harries, 1980). Neither Guerry nor Quetelet felt that climatic conditions were the principal causes of delinquency. Both criminologists are credited with starting the geographic school of...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Cohen, J., 1941. The geography of crime. Academy of Political Science and Social Science Annals, 217: 29–37.
Gibbons, D.C., 1978. Society, Crime, and Criminal Behavior, 4th edn. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Harries, K.D., 1980. Crime and Environment. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
Harries, K.D., and Stadler, S.J., 1983. Climatic determinism revisited: assault and heat stress in Dallas, 1980. Environment and Behavior, 15(2): 235–256.
Huntington, E., 1945. Mainsprings of Civilization. New York: Wiley.
LeBeau, J.L., and Corcoran, W.T., 1990. Changes in calls for police service with changes in routine activities and the arrival and passage of weather fronts. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 6(3): 269–291.
Lewis, L.T., and Alford, J.J., 1975. The influence of season on assault. Professional Geographer, 27: 214–217.
Rotton, J., and Cohn, E., 2000. Violence as a curvilinear function of temperature in Dallas: a replication. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(6): 1074–1081.
Van de Vliert, E., Schwartz, S., Huismans, S., Hofstede, G., and Daan, S., 1999. Temperature, cultural masculinity, and domestic political violence, Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 30(3): 291–314.
Cross-references
Applied Climatology
Determinism, Climatic
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer
About this entry
Cite this entry
Lebeau, J. (2005). Crime and Climate. In: Oliver, J.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of World Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_61
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_61
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-3264-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-3266-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences