Climate Change May Heat Up Crime

Cool heads isn’t just an expression. People actually tend to commit more crimes when the temperatures are higher, which led a research firm to conclude that rising global temperatures could cause an increase in violent crimes over the next century. According to a study published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, climate change could lead to an additional 22,000 murders, a 2.2 percent increase; 180,000 more cases of rape; a 3.1 percent increase; and an extra 1.2 million aggravated assaults, a 2.3 percent increase. The social costs of these increases would be roughly $38 billion to $115 billion.