The bitter truth is, despite the so-called solutions to the economic crisis being proposed, planned, or implemented, the situation only seems to be growing worse – people have started to eat and travel less, and most importantly, harbour less hope. Most members of the general public are gradually trying to come to terms with this new, unofficial “new normal”; the previous, official “new normal” being the one promoted in the context of Covid-19. However, different people have responded to this new “new normal” in different ways. Driven majorly by a survival instinct, the people have been resorting to all sorts of measures, including illegal ones and those that many would consider unethical, so as to ensure that they have enough resources to survive the economic crisis. The Morning yesterday (16) shed some light on how robberies have increased in the recent past, with the economic crisis intensifying. It was also reported that close to 200 murders and 1,000 robberies have been reported in the first four months of 2022, which experts claim will increase due to the prevailing economic crisis. According to Police Media Spokesman, Senior Superintendent of Police and Attorney-at-Law Nihal Thalduwa, drug abuse is the main cause behind these robberies. Despite the Police’s claim, in a context where the people are desperately trying to find a way to survive by making more money to cover the increased expenses, it is not advisable to confine the causes of these offenses to mere acts by drug users to cover their expenses, and the importance of identifying the social crisis that the economic crisis has led to cannot be stressed enough. The social crisis is everywhere, and the country is seeing clear signs of its existence even though it does not talk about it. In addition to ordinary robberies, people stealing fuel and vehicle number-plates, hoarding essentials to sell them at exorbitant prices on black markets, and misusing the privileges that they are entitled to due to their professions, show how much the basic standards of the society have deteriorated. People attacking and killing each other while trying to get essentials or even bribing fuel station operators to get more fuel than the approved amount, are also parts of this social crisis. However, most of these incidents are dealt with by the law enforcement authorities, and legal action is the main approach to dealing with them. In this process, the sociological aspect of this trend of robberies and other forms of offences has been overlooked, and people rarely talk about the gravity of the factors that lead people to engage in such activities. While some may opine that regardless of the reason, offences are offences and should be dealt with according to the law, this is a matter that affects the majority of the population because the struggle to survive the economic crisis is a hardship faced by the entire country, and therefore, identifying this as a byproduct of the economic crisis is not only fair, but more realistic. Although dealing with this issue is currently limited to prosecuting offenders, the Government, authorities, and activists should look at the overall picture, and take measures to prevent the people from engaging in illegal acts. As part of the long-term measures to address the impacts of the economic crisis, the said parties should pay special attention to the link between the economic and social crises, and have separate programmes to restore the social standards that existed in the pre-economic crisis era. Even though the said parties are seeking to alter the prevailing situation for the better by focusing on the direct impacts of the economic crisis, the social crisis is very much part of the economic crisis. In a context where the economic crisis is unlikely to be resolved in the foreseeable future, the social crisis too is unlikely to end anytime soon, and therefore, it must receive attention. It is time for Sri Lanka to acknowledge the social ramifications of the economic crisis, so the right steps can be taken towards solving both.