CoronaCrime #1

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has taken a terrible toll in lives, illness, and economic devastation and it is having diverse effects on violence and crime. Therefore, the Daily Prevention News publishes from now on weekly a Corona Crime Issue dedicated to collect related relevant news and information.

1. New report published by the Wolfson Professor in Criminology, Manuel Eisner, on violence relating to the Covid-19 Pandemic
   The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has taken a terrible toll in lives, illness, and economic devastation. There is another domain in which this disease is having diverse effects—violence—which makes it of special interest to The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, which is dedicated to the production of knowledge in the service of reducing violence. The implications of the pandemic for current and future violence trends are the topic of Violence and the Pandemic: Urgent Questions for Research by Manuel Eisner (University of Cambridge and University of Zurich) and Amy Nivette (Utrecht University). Source: Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation
2. COVID-19: the global pan(dem)ic and reflections on a prevention science response
   Currently, the COVID-19 outbreak is having a firm grip on the global population. To restrict further spread and increase preventive measures across the population, prevention science is called upon to complement medical actions. Being an interdisciplinary research field, prevention science comprises multiple perspectives that are coming together to strengthen resilience in crisis. Three of them (health psychology, communication science, implementation science) will be highlighted to underscore their potential for responding to this global challenge. Source: EUSPR Early Careers Forum
3. For pandemics and policing, evidence matters in times of crisis
   South African police were fighting an epidemic long before the COVID-19 crisis began to ravage the world. Persistently high levels of crime and violence have been a challenge for decades, and like the coronavirus, they have a severe impact on the economy and people’s well-being.
   But from a crisis comes opportunity, and police can learn valuable lessons from the medical community’s evidence-based response to the pandemic. Responsible medical practitioners and governments make decisions based on evidence. They scrutinise the best available data and research to determine what is most likely to work to achieve desired outcomes.
4. Policing during Covid-19: An Unprecedented Emergency
   Dr Francesc Guillén is a CCI Partner working for the Department d’interior (INT) in Barcelona, Spain. Spain has become one of the biggest Covid-19 hotspots in Europe, here Dr Guillén gives an account of policing during a global pandemic. Source: Cutting Crime Impact Project
5. Prisons are “in no way equipped” to deal with COVID-19
   Prisons are a hotspot for COVID-19. In theory, prisoners have the same right to health as anyone else, but the reality is very different.
   We will probably never know the extent to which coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has penetrated the world's prisons and detention centres. Testing capacity and the supply of personal protective equipment are already constrained, and inmates are rarely a priority. Nonetheless, at least one prison has done mass testing. The Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio, USA, holds around 2500 detainees. As The Lancet went to press, more than 2000 of them had tested positive for COVID-19. Source: The Lancet
6. The coronavirus pandemic could be devastating for the world's migrants
   This pandemic is also on track to exacerbate the vulnerabilities of some of the 272 million international migrants worldwide. Persons displaced internally and across borders are particularly at risk - and the majority of the world's 25.9 million refugees and 41.3 million internally displaced persons are in developing countries that are only starting now to be affected by the pandemic. Source: Open Democracy
7. From the global epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, insights on helping families and children cope
   In Bergamo, Italy, almost every household contains or knows of someone who has either died or is fighting for their life due to the virus. The town has become well-known throughout Italy for the sad daily ritual of Italian military trucks transporting coffins to other regions. In the midst of this tragedy a group of physicians, community workers and local agencies set up a ‘multidisciplinary task force’ to reflect on Bergamo’s circumstances as the epicenter of the pandemic. When the authors of this piece began to contact them to find out what lessons they might share for countries yet to follow in their path, a series of important, yet less considered ideas began to emerge. Source: UNICEF Connect Blogs
8. COVID-19: What is the specific impact on LGBTI people in Europe?
   All of this is hard. We are living in unprecedented times, but the global response to the crisis should address its potential impact on marginalised groups, including LGBTI people, and their access to healthcare and safety at home, as well as to watch out for discriminatory practices and measures. Source: Equinet
9. COVID-19 and specific impact on LGBTI people and what authorities should be doing to mitigate impact
   COVID-19 is generating complex challenges and risks and while the virus does not discriminate, it is very clear that it hits marginalised communities in our societies disproportionally hard. In addition, social distancing and other prevention measures, as needed as they are, can have unwanted negative impacts on the lives of marginalised groups. This should be taken into account and mitigated as much as possible. Source: ILGA Europe
10. Tracking covid-19 excess deaths across countries
    AS COVID-19 has spread around the world, people have become grimly familiar with the death tolls that their governments publish each day. Unfortunately, these tend to under-count the true number of fatalities that the disease has already caused. Source: The Economist

Please find more information and news about the interlinkages between the Coronavirus, Crime and Violence in German published every Tuesday on our German News Service "Tägliche Präventions News".