Lockdowns and Domestic Violence
March 22, 2021
The NYPD found ten-year-old Ayden Wolfe unresponsive and covered in cuts and bruises on the floor of his Harlem public-housing apartment, his family desperately attempting CPR. He was rushed to the hospital, but it was too late; he died two hours later. Wolfe’s stepfather, 34-year-old Ryan Cato, had beaten the boy for two days. He now faces murder and child-endangerment charges.
Ayden’s brutal killing is a tragedy in its own right, but it is not unique. Crime surged in American cities last year: shootings and homicides, and domestic violence, too. The tumultuous events of 2020—the pandemic, lockdowns, mass protests and riots, and the push to defund police departments—means that no one is sure exactly what to blame for the overall spike. But in the case of domestic offenses, the cause is clear: Covid-19 restrictions, imposed as a public-health measure, put potential victims into closer proximity with their victimizers, resulting—predictably—in more violence.
