Air pollution is causing crime in London: Study

A new report by researchers at the London School of Economics (LSE) suggests that crime in the city is being driven by air pollution.

Their results show that more polluted areas will see spikes in crime, particularly for less serious offences like shoplifting and pickpocketing.

This phenomenon appeared to strike London indiscriminately, affecting both rich and poor areas, and the authors of the paper say tackling air pollution could help the city tackle crime as well. Overall, the researchers’ findings show that the crime rate in London is over 8% higher on the most polluted days than the least.

Previous experiments have shown that increased levels of particulate matter in the air lead to increased blood levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. The study suggests that behavioural changes resulting from increased stress hormone levels may in turn lead to an increased likelihood of a person commiting a crime.

“Higher levels of air pollution cause an increase in crime,” Dr Sefi Roth, an expert in environmental economics at LSE who co-authored the report, said. “We analysed data on air pollution and more than 1.8 million crimes over two years in London to ensure our results are robust.” THE INDEPENDENT