Finding from a just-published study led by Professor Dan Anderberg has suggested that domestic violence incidence may have risen in London by up to 40% during the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, a figure 7-8 times larger than estimates based on police data.
From the outset of the pandemic, there were significant concerns about the potential impact of lockdowns on the incidence of domestic violence. Whilst under normal conditions, police reports provide reliable information about the variation in domestic violence incidence, in the context of the pandemic there were also concerns that the lockdowns reduced victims’ willingness or opportunities to report abuse.
The researchers, developed a new algorithm for using data on internet search frequencies, honing in on 35 keywords that domestic violence victims often search on the internet, such as wording associated with refuge, support, charity, aid, legal protection, and threatening and abusive relationships.
When then applied to the spring 2020 lockdown period the researchers observed a drastic increase of 40% in domestic violence-related online activity. In contrast, police reported domestic violence crimes saw only a modest increase of 6%, suggesting that victims of domestic violence were indeed less likely to report to the police during the lockdown.
The research is being published in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A and has been reported on in the Independent.
