The Crisis that Changed Everything: Reflections of and Reflections on COVID-19

During the course of 2020 there is barely an aspect of everyday life that has not been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in one way or another, if there are any at all. The realms of crime, criminal law, criminal justice and criminology are no exception. One rough and ready indicator is that, as early as 12 April 2020, a chapter headed the ‘Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on crime’ was initiated on Wikipedia.1Another is that a perfunctory internet search using a term such as “crime and COVID-19” or “criminal justice and COVID-19” yields millions of results in an instant. Admittedly, this evidence is superficial in nature but it is sufficient to indicate that one of the legacies of the pandemic will be to establish a new focus of study that is concerned with its impact on the criminal law field (broadly defined). That supposition is reinforced by the fact that its cultural, economic, environmental, political and social consequences, all facets of life that intersect strongly with criminal law, are of such magnitude that they will ricochet long into the future. Moreover, this will be the case irrespective of whether there is rapid success in the quest to eradicate the virus itself. Our Journal is most unlikely to remain immune from these developments as they have many aspects that fit squarely within its aims and scope. Merely in outline, the COVID-19 crisis has prompted a range of relevant responses from the principal European organs of governance; i.e. the EU and the Council of Europe, and their agencies and institutions; it is affecting the manifestations and representations of crime across Europe, as well as their handling; and there is extensive potential for comparative study of these issues as between different European states and for their exploration in a manner that contributes to criminological debate in Europe. Taken together, these considerations make it highly pertinent to dedicate the final editorial of 2020 to the topic of the pandemic. More specifically, it will illustrate some of the ways in which the pandemic has been affecting matters that fall within the Journal’s subject matter, using the above headings as an analytical framework. While not amounting to a systematic review, this will provide a preliminary indication of the scale and complexity of the emerging research field. It will conclude by offering some brief critical reflections on whether the COVID-19 crisis really has “changed everything”, or is likely to do so.