The book "Covid-19, Society and Crime in Europe" is the first volume in criminology on Covid-19 and Crime that brings together a group of top scholars. Combining  quantitative and qualitative reserach methods along with a multidisciplinary approach, the text is useful for both social scientists and policy-makers.

This volume analyzes the development of the reactions to Covid-19 by governments, the public and the crime patterns in 16 European countries.  All countries are members of the European Union and share common European norms and values, but the Covid-19 pandemic can serve as an example of how these norms and values are interpreted differently with regard to people’s trust in public institutions, governmental control strategies, dealing with fear, anxiety and other emotional responses to the new virus, crime patterns and law enforcement priorities to prevent and combat them. The volume provides empirical data based on available statistics, media analysis and qualitative data from interviews and observations, and examines the similarities and differences in crime patterns and the consequences for local communities and law enforcement priorities.

CSD's contribution to the book - the chapter "COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis and Its Impact on Crime Rates in Bulgaria", examines the big socio-economic crises that Bulgaria witnessed in the last 30 years, each triggering an upsurge in crime rates. The Covid-19 pandemic unfolded a new and very different type of crisis, with diverse health, social, and economic effects and unprecedented low crime levels. Bulgarian authorities intervened twice during the year and imposed restriction measures from the beginning of March 2020 until the end of May and again in mid-November until the end of December. Although the imposed public health measures in the spring were quite successful and the country had one of the lowest registered cases in the EU, the lockdown eventually hit hard the economy and brought relentless social unrest and protests against the government during the summer. The current chapter provides an overview and analysis of the crime trends in Bulgaria in the period 1990–2020 and the broader environment and its factors that shaped 2020.

Full text of the book can be found on Springer website.