Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39742829›Full record

ArticleEnvironment international2025

Temperature, violent crime, climate change, and vulnerability factors in 44 United States cities.

Seulkee Heo, Hayon Michelle Choi, Jesse D Berman, Michelle L Bell

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Environment international, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Local Violence as an Environmental Exposure with Increasing Relevance under Climate Change: A Conceptual Framework.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2026
    Review
  3. How does climate change impact health in the African primary care context?African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Seulkee HeoSchool of the Environment, Yale University, 195 Prospect St, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: seulkee.heo@yale.edu.
Hayon Michelle ChoiSchool of the Environment, Yale University, 195 Prospect St, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Jesse D BermanDivision of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 420 Delaware St, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Michelle L BellSchool of the Environment, Yale University, 195 Prospect St, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Interdisciplinary Program in Precision Public Health, Department of Public Health Sciences, Graduate School of Korea University, Seoul, 145 Anam-ro, Anam-dong 3-ga, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, South Korea.

Funding

Containerizing tasks to ensure robust AI/ML data curation pipelines to estimate environmental disparities in the rural southR01MD016054 · NIMHD · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI Michelle L Bell, Nicole Deziel · 2022 to 2026
$4.3M
NIMHD NIH HHS R01 MD016054
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Biological and psychological theories suggest complex impacts of heat on aggression and violence. Most previous studies considered temporal intervals of months to years and assumed linear associations. Evidence is needed on daily impacts of temperature on crime, applying non-linear models across different locations. This observational study examined non-linear relationships between daily summer temperature (May-September) and violent crime in 44 cities across 33 US states, 2005-2022. We calculated city-specific average temperature for the event day and previous day (lag0-1) and daily temperature anomalies (deviation from 1985 to 2010 average) using PRISM data. The Uniform Crime Reporting Program data were used to calculate daily city-specific number of violent crimes (n = 2,447,458 incidents). Generalized additive modeling was used to estimate relative risks (RRs) of violent crime. We identified three distinctive shapes (J-shaped, inverted J-shaped, linear) for relationships. The inverted J-shaped curve, indicating higher crime rates at high temperatures below extremely hot temperatures, was most predominant (26 cities). Across all cities, violent crime was 1.03 times higher at high compared to moderate temperatures (90th vs. 50th percentiles) (RR 1.03, 95 % CI: 1.02-1.04). Violent crime was also higher at moderate compared to cold temperatures (50th vs. 10th percentiles) [RR 1.04 (95 % CI: 1.03-1.06)], whereas risk did not differ between extremely high and hot temperature (99th vs. 90th percentiles). Risk during hot days versus moderate temperature days was significantly lower for cities with lower latitude, higher median temperature, higher urban greenspace, and higher percentage of occupied housing units with air conditioners. Risk was higher in cities with 90th percentile temperature anomalies that deviated from the historical temperature record, suggesting implications of climate change on heat-related violence. High daily temperatures are associated with violent crime with differences across locations. Disparities in risks by city-level social and environmental characteristics have implications for climate change strategies.

Indexed as

Climate ChangeCrimeTemperatureViolenceCitiesHot TemperatureHumansUnited StatesClimateCrimeTemperatureTime-seriesViolence

Identifiers

PMID39742829
PMCPMC11786129

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.