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From Slate:
"Data about law enforcement's use of force are notoriously spotty. But the Washington Post, which has created a database to track police shootings, has found that black people make up a disproportionate percentage of victims in lethal police shootings. The question is: Why? Is it because blacks are more likely to have run-ins with law enforcement? Or are police more likely to open fire on black suspects?
Fryer's findings seem to support the former theory. Much of his analysis is based on a large, random sample of arrest reports from the city of Houston, each of which his team analyzed for 300 different variables. The cases all involved a crime where, theoretically, the use of lethal force might have been legally justifiable in some circumstances—ranging from attempted murder of an officer down to resisting arrest. Based on the raw data, the researchers find that black and Hispanic suspects were in fact less likely to be shot in these confrontations than whites. After controlling for a comprehensive set of factors such as whether or not the suspect was found with a weapon, they find no statistically significant difference in the likelihood of suspects being shot based on their race.
What about in other cities? Along with Houston, Fryer and his team collected police reports on more than 1,000 shootings involving officers in Los Angeles, Dallas, Austin, Orlando, Jacksonville, and four smaller counties in Florida. Of course, these documents tell us nothing about whether cops in these locales are more likely overall to use their guns on blacks than whites, given that all of the cases involve a weapon being fired. But they do tell us about the circumstances under which officers decide to employ lethal force. After controlling for all the circumstances surrounding the incidents, such as the kind of crime involved or the time of day, Fryer found that police were 47 percent less likely to shoot black suspects who hadn't already attacked them compared with whites. And they were 43 percent less likely to fire on Hispanics, compared with whites."
Study finds police officers no more likely to shoot black suspects.
Thoughts?
Comments?
This study proves that we've gotten it all wrong when addressing how police handle incidents involving black, white, and Hispanic suspects.
"Data about law enforcement's use of force are notoriously spotty. But the Washington Post, which has created a database to track police shootings, has found that black people make up a disproportionate percentage of victims in lethal police shootings. The question is: Why? Is it because blacks are more likely to have run-ins with law enforcement? Or are police more likely to open fire on black suspects?
Fryer's findings seem to support the former theory. Much of his analysis is based on a large, random sample of arrest reports from the city of Houston, each of which his team analyzed for 300 different variables. The cases all involved a crime where, theoretically, the use of lethal force might have been legally justifiable in some circumstances—ranging from attempted murder of an officer down to resisting arrest. Based on the raw data, the researchers find that black and Hispanic suspects were in fact less likely to be shot in these confrontations than whites. After controlling for a comprehensive set of factors such as whether or not the suspect was found with a weapon, they find no statistically significant difference in the likelihood of suspects being shot based on their race.
What about in other cities? Along with Houston, Fryer and his team collected police reports on more than 1,000 shootings involving officers in Los Angeles, Dallas, Austin, Orlando, Jacksonville, and four smaller counties in Florida. Of course, these documents tell us nothing about whether cops in these locales are more likely overall to use their guns on blacks than whites, given that all of the cases involve a weapon being fired. But they do tell us about the circumstances under which officers decide to employ lethal force. After controlling for all the circumstances surrounding the incidents, such as the kind of crime involved or the time of day, Fryer found that police were 47 percent less likely to shoot black suspects who hadn't already attacked them compared with whites. And they were 43 percent less likely to fire on Hispanics, compared with whites."
Study finds police officers no more likely to shoot black suspects.
Thoughts?
Comments?
This study proves that we've gotten it all wrong when addressing how police handle incidents involving black, white, and Hispanic suspects.
mrgreen