Letter/Communication
Who are the "police" in "police violence"? Fatal violence by U.S. law enforcement agencies across levels of government
Injury epidemiology, v 11(1), 13
04 Apr 2024
PMID: 38575984
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Police violence is increasingly recognized as an urgent public health problem. Basic questions about police violence, however, remain unanswered, including which types of law enforcement agency are responsible for fatal police violence deaths.
We estimated the proportion of police violence deaths in the U.S. (2013-2022) that were attributable to local, county, state, federal, or tribal police agencies, using mapping police violence data. We examined proportions overall, by decedent race/ethnicity, and by state.
Nationally, 60% of decedents were killed by municipal, 29% by county, 8% by state, and 3% by federal, police, with < 1% killed by tribal or other officers. These proportions varied by race/ethnicity, with 56% of Native American decedents killed by municipal police compared to 70-75% among other racially minoritized people. While municipal police were responsible for most deaths in most states, in the Southeast, county police predominated. In some Northeastern states (and Alaska), state police were responsible for > 40% of deaths.
We identify wide geographic & racial/ethnic variation in the agencies responsible for fatal police violence. Findings suggest that the budgetary and infrastructural shifts required to prevent fatal police violence need to occur at multiple levels of government.
Metrics
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1 citations in Scopus
Details
- Title
- Who are the "police" in "police violence"? Fatal violence by U.S. law enforcement agencies across levels of government
- Creators
- Jaquelyn L Jahn - Drexel UniversityGabriel L Schwartz - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Injury epidemiology, v 11(1), 13
- Publisher
- Springer BMC
- Resource Type
- Letter/Communication
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Urban Health Collaborative; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Health Management and Policy
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001197515000001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85189985725
- Other Identifier
- 991021866846104721
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- Web of Science research areas
- Public, Environmental & Occupational Health