Special Issue Editors: Amber Horning Ruf and Joselyne Chenane Nkogo
The COVID-19 pandemic shaped the public’s trust in authority, such as the police, corrections and the government. While pandemics are not common, they cause significant mortality, social and economic disruption, widespread fear, and panic (Potter, 2001). In national emergencies, the public’s distrust of the government and law enforcement can increase, which can elevate fear (Smallman, 2015). During the swine flu outbreak, half of American adults felt that the federal government, corporations, or both were involved in at least one conspiracy to cover up health information (Painter, 2014). In a study about a pandemic in New York City, Fuller et al. (2007) conducted focus groups with different ethnic communities about whether they would trust their government to furnish necessary survival staples and to maintain civil order.