The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on California’s criminal justice system, according to a study published earlier this month.
The report from the Public Policy Institute of California evaluated the impact of the pandemic on arrests in the state comparing data from January of 2020 through July of 2021, and found that although there were some decreases in certain crimes, those categorized as violent—aggravated assault, auto thefts, and homicides—increased.
“Both in California and the rest of the country, homicides increased an unprecedented amount from year over year … and this likely led to both Californians and Americans in general growing more concerned about crime,” lead researcher Deepak Premkumar said during a Feb. 9 debriefing on the findings….