Previous research has found that sports games increase certain crimes including theft and vandalism, but the relationship between sports and other offenses such as motor vehicle theft, robbery, and assaults is mixed. Using regular season National Hockey League (NHL) game data and city-level, incident-level crime data from four large U.S. cities, this paper estimates if professional ice hockey games played at home is associated with increases in property crimes, alcohol-related crimes, and assaults during and right after games the over course of four NHL seasons. Results show that NHL games lead to small but significant increases in property crimes and assaults. There is no significant effect for alcohol-related crimes. Implications and suggestions for future work are discussed.

A high percentage of people who are incarcerated suffer from health problems that affect them both in prison and after they are released. Environmental hazards and pollutants can exacerbate these problems as well as contribute to the development of new health conditions. One specific type of pollutant that is associated with a wide array of health problems including decreased lung function, cancer, and asthma is particulate matter smaller than 2.5 µm (PM2.5). While prior research indicates that PM2.5 is not equally distributed throughout space, it remains unknown if levels of PM2.5 differ in areas with and without correctional facilities. The current study aims to address this gap by examining if counties with state-run correctional facilities have higher concentrations of PM2.5 relative to counties without state-run correctional facilities in Texas. Results of OLS regression models indicate that counties with one or more state-run correctional facilities have higher concentrations of PM2.5 relative to counties without these facilities. These findings highlight the importance of improving prison healthcare and addressing issues of environmental injustice in correctional facilities.

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