Violent crime in Lithuania: trends and patterns in 2015–2020

Abstract

Abstract. The paper presents the results of analysis of spatial distribution of violent crime in Lithuania. Two periods are compared: 2015–2019 that can be characterized as a period with relatively stable crime dynamics and 2020, the year of Covid-19 pandemic. Violent crime (events that have elements of direct threat to a person) was chosen because it is the type of crime that causes the most harm and because the worrying trend of its growth has been observed against a backdrop of declining overall crime. We demonstrate how the distribution of violent crime had changed in Lithuania in 2020 compared to the trends of 2015–2019 and, specifically, during the two lockdown periods of 2020 – between March 3 and June 17 and from 4 November to the end of the year.