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The number of sex offenses committed by strangers decreased significantly in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic, new research shows.

According to researchers at the University of Birmingham, the amount of offending in the night-time economy and outdoor settings dropped significantly, but so too did offenses taking place at home.

The team examined data collected by the National Crime Agency to explore the relationship between COVID-19 public health measures and the rate and characteristics of stranger sex offending across the entire first year of the pandemic. They contrasted these patterns with data from the same period pre-COVID-19.

While research has been carried out previously into the incidences of other crimes, such as burglary or robbery, this is the first study to examine stranger sex offenses in this context. Their results are in Psychology of Violence.

The team also found that offenses involving offenders engaging victims in conversation or sneaking up on them decreased significantly during lockdowns, as did internet-facilitated offenses in 2 of the three lockdown periods.

The findings align with reports from other countries, including the US and Kenya. However, the researchers were not able to determine clearly whether the pandemic led to less actual incidences of offending, or whether there was a reduction in victims reporting offenses to the police鈥攐r both.

Professor Jessica Woodhams, of the University of Birmingham's Centre for National Training and Research Excellence in Understanding Behaviour (CENTRE-UB), led the research. She explained, "We found fewer offenses reported on the same day as the offense took place during COVID-19's first year鈥攑articularly during the first lockdown when people's movements were most restricted and when there had been little time to adapt, for example, to additional caring responsibilities.

"This could have had an effect on people's opportunity to report crimes. Limited access to social networks could also have led to delays in reporting where people are less able to get the emotional support they may need to report a crime."

In the study, the researchers argue that developing an accurate picture of changing risks, criminal patterns and behaviors is a vital tool in preventing sexual violence. This includes understanding how the public health measures, imposed during the pandemic, affected people's routine activities, and how those changes affected where, when and how sex offenses were committed.

"This information gives us important insights for minimizing risk ahead of any future pandemic or similar national emergency," said Professor Woodhams. "For example, we can gain important insights into how offenses can be policed, and how policies aimed at preventing sexual violence can be developed

"Most importantly, these insights can help us plan interventions, such as policing events or areas of geographical risk, that will prevent offenses taking place, as well as intervening to re-educate offenders once apprehended."