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26 Homicide Stud. 3 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/homcst26 and id is 1 raw text is: Special Issue Article Homicide Studies 2022, Vol. 26(1) 3-10 Reflecting on 25 Years of ©2021 SAGE Publications Article reuse guidelines: Homicide Studies sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/10887679211048760 journals.sagepub.com/home/hsx SAGE M. Dwayne Smith' Keywords Homicide Studies, journal, reflections, 25 years, special issue Twenty-five years. Resorting to an old adage, I have to say my how time flies. And fly by it has. In discussing this special issue commemorating the 25 years that Homicide Studies has been in existence, a frequent question posed in wonderment was has it really been 25 years? Well, indeed it has, and it is my privilege as the founding editor to offer here some brief reflections on the origins, current profile, and future directions for the journal. The Beginnings As told in the first article of the inaugural issue (Smith & Corzine, 1997), a group affiliated with the Homicide Research Working Group (HRWG), an organization developed and nurtured by Richard and Rebecca (Becky) Block, was gathered for din- ner at the 1994 American Society of Criminology meetings in Miami. Much of the discussion involved homicide trends in the nation and in a handful of cities whose rates served as driving forces in those trends. The conclusion at the end of the evening was that homicide was a complex and diverse phenomenon that lacked an academic journal devoted to its study. At the HRWG meeting the next day that was held in con- junction with the American Society of Criminology convention, a decision was made to pursue the idea, and an ad hoc committee was formed. Subsequently, a representa- tive from Sage Publications, Terry Hendrix, was identified as someone to discuss the matter with, and an approach was made. Terry was, almost to our surprise, intrigued by the idea, but needed more detail. Fast forwarding, this led to the development of a formal proposal several months later that a new publication, Homicide Studies: An Interdisciplinary & International Journal, would be formed and sponsored by the 'University of South Florida, Tampa, USA Corresponding Author: M. Dwayne Smith, Office of the Provost, University of South Florida CGS 401, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620, USA. Email: mdsmith8@usf.edu.