COVID-19’s Effects on Homicide Investigation

• Author: Carson Swisher,Millan A. AbiNader
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10887679221111165
• Published date: 01 November 2022
• Date: 01 November 2022
• Subject Matter: Special Issue Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/10887679221111165

Homicide Studies

2022, Vol. 26(4) 345 –352

© 2022 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/10887679221111165

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Special Issue Article

COVID-19’s Effects on

Homicide Investigation

Carson Swisher1 and Millan A. AbiNader2

Abstract

COVID-19 affected every aspect of our society, including homicide incidence,

investigation, and prosecution. This case study examines the impact of COVID-19 on

homicide investigation in one large metropolitan police department. Two homicide

investigators were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. A thematic

analytic approach was used to identify two overarching themes: fear and changes to

investigative procedure. Detectives feared getting COVID-19 and possibly transmitting

it to their loved ones, particularly in the early day of the pandemic when little was

known about transmission. Homicide investigators faced several changes to how they

conducted interviews, met with families, and sought warrants. While this case study

only offers a glimpse into the challenges faced by law enforcement departments due

to COVID-19, it is clear that homicide investigations were greatly affected and may

continue to be so. More research is needed to unpack the relationship between

COVID-19 and policies that were implemented in response to it.

Keywords

homicide, COVID-19, pandemic, investigation, policing, detectives

Historically, homicide rates in the United States have fluctuated with societal and world

events, changes in laws like firearm regulation, and shifts in the economic health and

wellbeing of communities. COVID-19, a viral pandemic that dramatically transformed

society due to its required social isolation and distancing, appears to have affected

homicide as well. While other factors may have also affected homicide rates, such as

increased civil unrest during this period, the change in US homicide rates, suggests that

1Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA

2University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

Corresponding Author:

Carson Swisher, Office of Gender-Based Violence, School of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Arizona

State University, Mail Code 4420, 411 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA.

Email: ctswishe@asu.edu

1111165 HSXXXX10.1177/10887679221111165Homicide StudiesSwisher and AbiNader

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