Vliv zpřísněných trestů na kriminalitu v období nouzového stavu

The diploma thesis examines the effect of stricter penalties on crime during the state of emergency. The thesis aims to verify whether potential criminals are influenced by the measures valid during the state of emergency when deciding to participate in illegal activities so that this crisis situation is not abused. The thesis therefore tries to prove that stricter penalties have a significant effect on agents' decisions about committing crimes. To quantify the measure's effect, monthly time series between January 2018 and May 2020 are used. In the empirical part, the effect of the policy change on the total number of crimes is examined using the difference-in-differences method. The control group in the model is represented by Belgium, which meets the requirements needed to use the chosen method. For a better specification of the model, the original length of the investigated period was extended by the period of the second state of emergency. The resulting number of monitored months increased to 40 with the extension, which made it possible to bring more accurate measures of the effect of the investigated policy during the period of both states of emergency. Using the model extended by the second state of emergency, it was possible to prove by analysis that the measure introduced by the government of the Czech Republic contributed to a reduction in the number of crimes in the monitored period. The findings of this thesis can be applied to possible future crises with similar features.