מה מלמדים נתוני המשטרה על אלימות במשפחה בתקופת הקורונה? מבט על מגפה, פשיעה ומדידה

Israel has adopted a policy of lockdowns and movement restrictions in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19. Throughout the lockdown periods, an increase in the number of domestic violence incidents has been reported by some victim support services. It has been argued that as a result of the quarantine, the risk to victims of domestic violence has increased, as the prolonged ‘stay at home’ policy intensifies stress, anxiety, and addictions, all known as catalysts for domestic and interpersonal violence. However, do police data exhibit an increase in the number of incidents during the lockdowns, compared to other periods? This research note presents a longitudinal analysis of all domestic violence incidents in the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo (n=7,122) reported to the Israeli Police in 896 days (January 1, 2018 – June 14, 2020). Police records do not indicate a change in incidence of domestic violence crime after the beginning of the lockdowns (March 20, 2020, April 7, 2020) compared to different periods before or between lockdowns. The findings highlight the complexity of measuring crime longitudinally, especially given a data set characterized by high volatility on the one hand, and lack of congruence between various measures about the scope of the phenomenon, on the other.