Therefore, more crimes occur on hot days

The link between heat and bad behavior has long been assumed theoretically, and now it is being supported by science as well. And this is really not very good news. Most scientists agree: the world is getting warmer every year. This not only creates greater hardship for individuals, but it also has other frightening implications for all of us.

In a warmer world, resources become scarcer and people experience greater anger. In this regard, according to two recent studies by The Washington Post, life on Earth could become more violent. Both studies looked at crime from very different perspectives, but arrived at similar conclusions.

The connection between temperature and crime rates is nothing new. In a 1992 study, criminologist Simon Field, stationed in Gloucester, looked at the effects of temperature on crime in the UK and not only established a link, but also offered a reason: when people are warm, they spend more time outdoors. More time outside on the street means a greater chance of falling victim to crime. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) USA released a study in 2019 investigating crime in Los Angeles between 2010 and 2017 and found that "on average, total crime increases by 2.2 percent and violent crime by 5.7 percent when the maximum daily temperature rises."

There is also evidence that temperature actually plays a role in provoking violent behavior. In another 2019 NBER paper, researchers described the method of subjecting subjects to "thermal stress," which had an adverse effect on their behavior.

According to another report by The Washington Post, climate violence (defined by one study as a clash between severe weather conditions and intense social realities) is a consequence of climate change. It is worth noting that climate change is not always synonymous with "global warming," and it can also mean things like extreme weather, which includes extreme heat, but also droughts, seasonal disruptions, the destruction of rivers, wildfires, and so on.

On a more personal level, as CNN explained in its efforts to summarize a 2016 study on the climate-violence connection, "living in a more seasonal and lower-temperature place leads people to be more future-oriented and to place a higher value on self-control." In other words, when you are in a situation where you can plan, you are less likely to resort to violence and more likely to practice self-control. When you have no control and nothing is given, you may be more likely to be reckless because you are desperate.

However, there are no absolutes, so it is important to remember that the studies look at small sample sizes and attempt to apply them broadly. There is still much that we do not know about the link between high temperatures and crime.