Turning up the heat: how a warming climate might worsen violent crime in South Africa

Abstract

South Africa could experience a thousand more homicides a year, were the temperature to rise by 1C, according to a recent editorial review of the impact of temperature on violent crime. How the weather affects risk for crime is mediated by a host of other factors, the authors note. As temperatures rise, understanding heat-violence mechanisms will become increasingly important in anticipating and mitigating crime hotspots.