Femicide and COVID-19 Pandemic: Examining the Situation in Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Slovenia

• Published date: 01 May 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10439862241245839
• Author: Rok Hacin,Gorazd Meško
• Date: 01 May 2024

https://doi.org/10.1177/10439862241245839

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2024, Vol. 40(2) 364 –381

© The Author(s) 2024

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DOI: 10.1177/10439862241245839

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Article

Femicide and COVID-19

Pandemic: Examining

the Situation in Croatia,

Hungary, Montenegro, North

Macedonia, and Slovenia

Rok Hacin1 and Gorazd Meško1

Abstract

Government measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 affected crime opportunities

and criminal justice systems, resulting in changes in crime trends. This article explores

the effects of restrictions (lockdowns) on the number of femicides. The monthly data

on femicides from 2017 to 2021 were collected in five Central and South-eastern

European countries: Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Slovenia.

The total number of femicides from 2017 to 2021 decreased in all observed countries.

Increases were detected in Croatia and Slovenia in 2020. However, they presented

an exception to the general trend. The monthly distribution of femicides showed that

there was no common point peak month(s) among observed countries. Analyzing

the effects of the level of restrictions using the Stringency Index on the number of

femicides confirmed the initial observation that the number of femicides was not

dependent on lockdown measures. In general, the findings show that restriction

measures had no effect on the number of femicides in the studied countries.

Keywords

femicide, COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions, Stringency Index, Europe

In November 2019, the first case of COVID-19 was detected in China. The disease

spread with unprecedented speed and developed into a pandemic that hugely impacted

society on all continents. Government measures to address the crisis affected crime

1University of Maribor, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Corresponding Author:

Rok Hacin, Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor, Kotnikova ulica 8, 1000

Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Email: rok.hacin@um.si

1245839CCJXXX10.1177/10439862241245839Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeHacin and Meško

research-article2024

Hacin and Meško 365

opportunities and criminal justice systems, resulting in changes in crime trends.

Jaccoud et al. (2021) summarized the key changes in crime trends as a result of mea-

sures related to COVID-19: (1) certain crimes (e.g., property crime and crimes against

persons related to the night economy) were significantly reduced, (2) the crime reduc-

tion was concentrated to specific geographic areas (e.g., city centers), (3) certain forms

of crime were increased (e.g., cybercrime, domestic violence), (4) most forms of

crimes that decreased after the pandemic [and related measures] increased once again

after government restrictions were eased/lifted, and (5) organized crime was initially

disrupted but later adapted to the pandemic context.

Government restrictions to limit/contain the spread of the disease had a significant

impact on an individual’s movement. Nivette et al. (2021) analyzed the effects of

COVID-19-related measures and changes in society on the number of daily homicides

in 27 cities across 23 countries and discovered that there was a marginal decline in

homicides after the implementation of stay-at-home restrictions. In contrast, Meyer

et al. (2022) detected an increase in homicides in the 28 largest cities in the United

States. However, the number of homicides in the United States in 2020 increased even

before the stay-at-home restrictions, indicating limited effects of pandemic measures

on homicides despite a significant decrease in most violent crimes (Abrams, 2021).

According to the expectations posited by the Routine Activity Theory (Cohen &

Felson, 1979), the convergence of victim(s) and offender(s) in a reduced space for an

extended period, with a simultaneous lack of formal social control, can lead to an

increase in domestic violence offenses including femicide. However, in contrast to

expectations, restriction measures during COVID-19 have not affected the number of

femicides (Aebi, Molnar, & Baquerizas, 2021; Calderon-Anyosa & Kaufman, 2021;

Cantor et al., 2022; Hoehn-Velasco et al., 2021).

The results on the impact of stay-at-home restrictions on homicides are mixed. For

example, following opportunity theory and daily routine theory (Cohen & Felson,

1979; Eck & Weisburd, 1995), one can expect that the number of homicides would

decrease, but what of the countries where intimate partner homicide presents a major-

ity of homicides (e.g., Slovenia)? Applying strain theories (e.g., (Cullen et al., 2011;

Merton, 1968) to the restraint measures following COVID-19, one could expect that

increased stress, anxiety, and anger of individuals (i.e., potential offenders) [should]

lead to an increasing number of homicides in a domestic environment and femicides.

However, while the number of domestic violence in general increased (Campbell,

2020; Jaccoud et al., 2021; Piquero et al., 2021), no significant changes in the number

of femicides were detected during the COVID-19 pandemic (Aebi, Molnar, &

Baquerizas, 2021). Building on these findings, this article focuses on femicide during

COVID-19 in six European countries (Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, North

Macedonia, and Slovenia). The aim is to present the development of the COVID-19

pandemic and government measures in the countries mentioned above and to test their

impact on the number of femicides. The study contributes to the existing knowledge

on COVID-19 and crime in the following ways. First, it was implemented in European

countries that were usually neglected in similar studies, providing a first comparative

insight into the effects of the pandemic on femicides in Central and South-eastern