According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Victims of Crime, workplace homicides declined between 1995 and 2015. Yet workplace homicides are not the most common form of workplace violence — simple assault is. Simple assault is defined by the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) as an attack without a weapon that results in no injuries or minor injuries (e.g., cuts, scratches, black eyes), or any injury requiring fewer than two days in the hospital.
And it’s these reports of nonfatal violence within the workplace that have gotten high-profile attention amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. With reports of a decline in mental health and rises of depression, alcoholism and domestic violence showing up in the media, experts point to an increase in stress, anger, dissention and aggression fueled by COVID-19, social justice issues and politics. For example, a study conducted by Howard University estimates that social distancing measures increased domestic violence by roughly 6%, or more than 24,000 cases, during the first few weeks of the pandemic last year.