Impact of Daylight Saving Time on Crime in Santiago
Solution types
Effectiveness

Effective

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Effective

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Life periods served
Where the program was applied
Country of application
Description

This is a public policy based on Decree No. 1489, which determines the application of annual daylight saving time in Chile. The time zone is adjusted so that the time of daylight coincides with a greater proportion of time dedicated to work and school activities. This way, it is intended to facilitate the routine activities of the population and generate savings in energy consumption.
In the last 12 years, public safety issues have been taken into account in decisions to adjust time zones, so that the time when people return home (coming from work or school) coincides with the last hours of daylight, with the intention of helping to reduce crime in public spaces.

Impact evaluations

One study found that crime decreased by 20% in periods near the Daylight Saving Time transition, when there is a one-hour increase in the amount of sunlight between 7 and 9 PM. In contrast, there was a 17% increase in overall criminal activity when the Daylight Saving Time transition decreased exposure to sunlight between the same hours. The greatest impact is on robberies, and to a lesser extent on burglaries and vehicle thefts. No evidence was found of temporal displacement of criminal activity to other hours of the day [1].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Domínguez, P. & Asahi, K. (2019). Crime Time: How Ambient Light Affects Crime (IDB Working Paper Series núm. IDB-WP-991). Washington, D.C. Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/208176/1/IDB-WP-0991.pdf https://doi.org/10.18235/0001701

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