COVID-19 and Homicide Special Issue Introduction

Since early 2020, over 2 years ago at the time of this writing, COVID-19 has affected all aspects of life across the world. In the U.S., over 1 million deaths have been attributed to COVID-19 (CDC, 2022), and Americans report numerous ways that their lives, jobs, and relationships have shifted due to the pandemic (van Kessel et al., 2021). As stay-at-home orders were enacted across states to reduce the spread of the virus people’s lives were impacted across multiple domains: schools closed, unemployment increased, and many people experienced economic hardship (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2022). At the same time, outrage about excessive police violence against Black Americans in particular, resulted in protests after the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by police on May 25, 2020, which followed closely on the heels of the murder of Breonna Taylor, an unarmed black woman, by police on March 13, 2020. Some evidence indicates that there was an increase in certain types of violence during this time, including increases in domestic and intimate partner violence (Bullinger et al., 2020; Gosangi et al., 2021; Leslie & Wilson, 2020; McKay et al., 2020; Miller et al., 2020). Across multiple cities, domestic violence calls for service increased, as did domestic violence hotline calls (Bullinger et al., 2020; Leslie & Wilson, 2020; Miller et al., 2020). Homicide rates across the U.S. also appear to have increased (Anderson, 2021). However, little is known about the nature and extent of the problem, causal mechanisms, effects of disease reduction policies, or the contexts of homicide during this time. This special issue, therefore, examines the effects of COVID-19 on gun violence and fatal interpersonal violence. The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the ways that we engage in homicide prevention practice, both within social service and law enforcement agencies, and the ways that researchers engage with practitioners to collect data to inform