In this report I will break down each of my sources based on where they were published, how they influence the course of the essay, and the informational value they contribute. I have selected eleven sources in total, five scholarly articles from academic journals, four popular media sources, one government-funded research institute article, and finally one nonprofit/nonpartisan organization source. I ultimately excluded a journal article titled “A pandemic of the poor: social disadvantage and the U.S. HIV epidemic” published in 2013. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3700367/) While it did focus on the socioeconomic, cultural, and political effects of the HIV epidemic, it failed to provide any evidence relating to crime needed to correlate with the Covid-19 crisis and the objective of my essay.

My first source is my model essay, “Has Covid-19 Changed Crime? Crime Rates in the United States during the Pandemic.” This is a journal article I located by selecting a link in the explore more section of the Gale Academic Onefile while researching another. The format of this essay is very well outlined with an abstract, introduction, two sub sections and a conclusion. I like how clear and easy to follow the article is arranged as well as the information provided corresponding to my topic. Specifically, the idea the authors present that any reported decrease in crime is deceiving as it correlates with minor offenses, leaving space for the notable increase in violent and more severe law-breaking.

“How Are Substance Abuse and Violence Related,” was written by a licensed Psychologist for Psychology Today and located through a google search. The author provides not only relatively well-known data suggesting that alcohol and drug use are linked to violent acts but also brings to light how substances also increase the risk of becoming a victim of violence. In the beginning months of the Coronavirus pandemic, there was a socially acceptable movement of increased alcohol consumption across the country with wine and liquor markets even being deemed essential businesses. It is an interesting perspective to consider; if the lowered inhibitions of our population as a whole contributed to more accessible crime.

Dr. Nora Volkow wrote “Research at the Intersection of HIV with Substance Use Disorders amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic” for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a federal government research institute. Another media article found in the same focused google search, it offers useful information with statements such as: “there is great opportunity for HIV and addiction researchers to make important advances in understanding how COVID-19 intersects with substance use, the opioid epidemic, and HIV.” The reason this is significant is the ability to parallel the increased crime rates in the late 80’s and early 90’s due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and those in question now during Covid-19.

“The improbable transformation of inner-city neighborhoods: crime, violence, drugs, and youth in the 1990s,” is another academic journal article located with Gale Academic Onefile. Dating back to 1998 following the height of the HIV and crack cocaine epidemics, I am uncertain whether I will use it or not. Its connection to my essay is marginal with the bulk of the report angled toward the reduction of crime rates in Brooklyn following the eighties and what actions inspired that shift opposed to the increased crime that transpired beforehand. I am open to another more strongly associated article that could replace this one should the essay feel light in this section.

Matthew Ashby penned a research article for a publication called Crime Science in May of 2020 titled, “Initial evidence on the relationship between the coronavirus pandemic and crime in the United States.” It was located by searching the Gale Academic Onefile and focuses on the first 16 weeks of the pandemic. The data collected in this research shows an insignificant change to crime rates during that period; which leads my investigation toward other explanations for the rise in crime statistics shortly after. This aids in transitioning the essay from stay-at-home order substance use into the next possibility of early release inmates impacting misconduct in late spring and early summer.

Another scholarly report found in Onefile was “The effect of prison releases on regional crime rates.” A statistical data report written for Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs and is a very thorough assessment of nationally compiled data. It provides an excess of usable information such as, “To summarize the results…releasing prison inmates is associated with increases in crime. We find positive significant effects of prison releases on the overall violent and property crime rates and for most of the individual felony offenses.” However, this study was conducted several years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ACLU is a national nonprofit organization that defends the civil liberties of the American people. In the article “Decarceration and Crime During Covid-19” published on their website in July of 2020, they offer an opposing view to the previous article. For example, “Over this time period, we found that the reduction in jail population was functionally unrelated to crime trends in the following months. In fact, in nearly every city explored, fewer crimes occurred between March and May in 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019, regardless of the magnitude of the difference in jail population.”  I chose this article to represent a conflicting stance and bridge the third transition in my research essay allowing the third potential factor to be introduced here.

The next three articles are open web sources, two from The New York Times and one from The Huffington Post. “A Violent August in N.Y.C.: Shootings Double, and Murder is Up by 50%,” is a Times article that exposes the “steep rise in gun violence that has intensified the debate over policing,” published in the Race and America section. A feature piece that is meant to stir up emotion and call attention to frightening crime numbers and what could be behind them, it was the article that initially marked my interest in the topic. The information gathered here will help segue into the consideration of recent protests and calls to defund the police being a reason for the reported uptick in crime.

“Don’t Blame BLM For The Rise In Violent Crime. The Real Reason Is Much More Interesting” written for The Huffington Post and “Gun Violence Spikes in N.Y.C., Intensifying Debate Over Policing,” for the Times, both give opposing examples of consequences of defunding the police in the wake of surging activism against police brutality.

Finally, the academic source “To reduce the harm: On defunding the police” published in the Times Literary Supplement this August, is written by Professor of Criminology at Oxford University: Ian Loader. Professor Loader gives a detailed evaluation of the Black Lives Matter Movement and what actions should be taken by law enforcement going forward. He summarizes, “The police can contribute to secure belonging…extending, and experimenting with, deliberative institutions that give Black and minority ethnic groups an equal voice in determining what safety and justice is, and the means by which it is legitimately provided.”

It is here where I will possibly incorporate a not yet secured source on fluctuating crime rates throughout history if the conclusion of my essay requires that kind of supporting information to polish it, although it may not be necessary.

Works Cited

ACLU, “Decarceration and Crime During Covid-19.” American Civil Liberties Union, 27 Jul. 2020, https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/decarceration-and-crime-during-covi19/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020

Ashby, Matthew P. J. “Initial evidence on the relationship between the coronavirus pandemic and crime in the United States.” Crime Science, vol. 9, no. 1, 2020, p. NA. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A624351034/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=86a8b973. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

Boman, John H., and Owen Gallupe, “Has COVID-19 Changed Crime? Crime Rates in the United States during the Pandemic.” Am J Crim Just 45, 537–545 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09551-3. Accessed 18, Oct 2020.

Curtis, Richard. “The improbable transformation of inner-city neighborhoods: crime, violence, drugs, and youth in the 1990s.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 88, no. 4, Summer 1998, p. 1233. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A54700680/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=7d939bce. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

Hobbs, Michael. “Don’t Blame BLM For The Rise In Violent Crime. The Real Reason Is Much More Interesting.” The Huffington Post, 19 Jul. 2020, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dont-blame-the-rise-in-violent-crime-on-protesters_n_5f122c8bc5b6cec246c294f3. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020

Loader, Ian. “To reduce the harm: On defunding the police.” TLS. Times Literary Supplement, no. 6124, 2020, p. 10+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A632770147/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=60d033b4. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

NIDA. “Research at the Intersection of HIV with Substance Use Disorders amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic.” National Institute on Drug Abuse, 28 Jul. 2020,   https://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/noras-blog/2020/07/research-intersection-hiv-substance-use-disorders-amidst-covid-19-pandemic. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

Raphael, Steven, and Michael A. Stoll. “The effect of prison releases on regional crime rates.” Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs, Annual 2004, p. 207+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A303451041/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=1671c8ad. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

Southall, Ashley, and Neil MacFarquhar. “Gun Violence Spikes in N.Y.C., Intensifying Debate Over Policing.” The New York Times, Published 23 Jun. 2020, Updated 24, Aug. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/nyregion/nyc-shootings-surge.html. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

Vitelli, Romeo. “How Are Substance Abuse and Violence Related.” Psychology Today, 08 Mar. 2018, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/media-spotlight/201803/how-are-substance-abuse-and-violence-related. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

Zaveri, Mihir. “A Violent August in N.Y.C.: Shootings Double, and Murder is Up by 50%.” The New York Times. 02 Sept. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/nyregion/nyc-shootings-murders.html. Accessed 11, Oct. 2020.