Time.  It’s important- mostly because of what we do with it.  Or, what we don’t.

We used to tell time with sundials.  Until we were able to develop sophisticated mechanical pieces that made our obsession with the time be possible,  regardless of the weather.  My religion uses the concept of hours- but those hours change in length  as the day gets longer or shorter- since daylight is defined as containing 12 ‘hours’- and so is night-time.

With the advent of railroads (mass transit)- once we had those mechanical time pieces, it became important to standardize time.  (This concept started in 1847.)  So, that folks would know when a train was leaving or coming, as it crossed long distances.  It led to hte development of time zones across the world, so that it would be approximately the same lightness at 9 AM wherever one was situated.

By 1895, George V. Hudson proposed the concept of daylight savings time (DST).  This was proposed to afford us the feeling that we have more daylight hours (which we don’t), because our conventional lives revolve around the times of 7 AM to 9 PM or so- and with DST, we center the daylight hours during that period.  The concept certainly benefits retail sales, sports events, and the like.  It also does reduce our need for lighting (back then, it meant candles)- and perhaps for utilities such as heating and cooling.

But, changing our clocks messes up our sleep patterns, travel arrangements, and medical devices, among others.  It’s those others that we need to worry about.

Drs. Jennifer Doleac (now at UVa)  and Nicholas Sanders (now at William & Mary) collaborated while at the Stanford University; she was obtaining her Ph.D., he was a post-doc.  Their thesis?  The effect of ambient light on criminal behavior. In other words, does the adoption of daylight savings time have any affect on crime rates.

They examined crime rates in the spring and fall seasons. And- as soon as DST ends in the fall, when it is darker in the evening that it was during DST, they found that there is a spike in crime, in particular robberies. How high?  A 7% increase in robbery rates is observed.  But, that’s not the whole story- there is an increase of some 25% during the hour that is affected (the sunset hour) by changing our clocks.

So, this becomes a crime of opportunity, with robbers taking that opportunity.  It’s harder to identify them in the dark and there are fewer witnesses.   (They don’t steal within houses or businesses, but on the street.)  The longer period of darkness led to the increase in street crimes committed by strangers (to the victims).

(Now, a plug- one that our governments need to heed.  This is the reason we need  street lights.  And, if a bulb is out, it needs to be fixed- promptly.  Because light is the enemy of these crimes of opportunity.)

Doleac and Sanders were able to prove their hypothesis, because they realized that we had finagled with the actual dates that we terminate DST.   In America, we have elected [yeah, right] to extend DST for four more weeks back in 2007.  (DST used to end in October; now it ends in November.) So, they compared the crime rates in 2007 and 2008 to those that obtained in 2005 and 2006; it would make the change in any crime patterns clear.   Moreover, they reminded us that crime, in general, follows circadian patterns and is not at a constant rate throughout the day.

So, given these facts, now that DST has just ended- hold onto your hat!  And, while you’re at it,  your cell phone, your wallet, and just  be more aware.

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