Daylight saving time has an unexpected benefit for home safety

middle The emergence of problems such as sleep disturbanceThere is one point of good news at the beginning of the year Daylight saving time. Jumping forward an hour means the evenings are getting brighter, and this has a direct impact on break-ins. After spring daylight saving time, the numbers of burglaries begin to decline, especially in more temperate climates. Give your home security technology a break.

At first, this may seem confusing. As our conversations with criminologists have shownAnd many thieves They prefer to hit homes in the middle of the daywhen they become more confident that the house will be empty. But many thieves still like to wait out darkness, and research has shown that daylight saving time has a significant impact on their behavior.

Studies such as This research is from Jennifer Doleac and Nicholas Sanders (PDF) showed (even taking other factors into account) that an extra hour of daylight leads to a reduction in crimes such as thefts, which fall by up to 27% during sunset hours saving about $246 million in social crime costs each year. This also applies to Reported crimes such as murder and rapewhich decreases significantly with evening brightness – reports of homicide by up to 48% and rape by 56%.

While the researchers noted that “individuals discover a burglary when they return home, or a stolen car the next morning, but have no idea what time of day the burglary occurred,” this trend appears to apply to all spur-of-the-moment crimes — which most burglaries fall under.

The opposite is more evident for domestic crimes. When home security company Vivint compared crime rates, it found this Home burglaries and related crimes jumped 16%. When daylight saving time ends in the fall.

So, while moving our clocks back and forth may be a pain, keep in mind that March’s summer shift helps keep you and your home safe. there He also points out that bright streetlights can have a similar effectwhich helps reduce all types of theft. It turns out that people prefer darkness when they’re in a stealing mood, and a brighter atmosphere makes them less likely to act out.

Heat can also play a role

While more active daylight hours tend to reduce property crimes, temperature can have the opposite effect. Unusually warm winters and hot summers It tends to increase certain types of crimes such as burglaries. Much of the increase is due to increased opportunities: people are leaving their windows and garages open more often, going on vacation more frequently and moving around more. In northern states, the lack of snow and ice also makes property crimes easier. So be careful when making and using warm weather plans My guide to preparing your home for the vacation.

To add more light around your home, you should visit our picks for Best security cameras with floodlights To a similar effect. Look for our List of tips to deter thieves to learn more.