Why Are So Many Black Americans Killed By Police?

[Stellar]

?w=575

More: FiveThirtyEight

Researchers agree that racism almost certainly plays a role in that disparity. But “racism” is too broad an explanation to reveal much about the more immediate causes or to point to a way to reduce police killings of black people like the recent ones in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Researchers who have studied the issue say that racism manifests itself in different ways, requiring a range of solutions. If the disparity arises because bias among police officers makes them more likely to fire guns at black people than at white people who pose equal threats, for example, then the answer could lie in hiring, training and firing: test recruits for bias, train officers to not exercise bias and fire officers who demonstrate bias.

But if the disparity is due more to systemic police practices than the prejudices of individual officers, then the answer could be to change those practices — for instance, ensure that departments don’t concentrate car checks that are unlikely to turn up anything illegal and could turn violent in predominantly black neighborhoods.

And if the disparity is because there are relatively more police interactions with black people, because black people commit a disproportionately large share of reported crimes, then the answer could be to address the systemic causes of the crime disparity, including urban poverty. (No one said the solutions would be easy.)

[loyalsister]

1. This is pretty cautiously (politically?) written

and overlooks our generalized cultural acceptance of certain biases. Implicit bias research has shown that it does not require hate to be racially biased. We need to get away from that belief and fully abandon the idea that only bigots commit atrocities towards people of color. It is embedded in our culture that fear of black bodies is "normal" and acceptable. Thus people are willing to believe that "fear" (which is quite often a manifestation of implicit bias) justifies killing. Stand your ground laws create a system of open season on people of color.


"because black people commit a disproportionately large share of reported crimes" is a ridiculous narrative for 538 to advance.
Black people make up 12% of the population. Millions of crimes are committed each year. For there to be a truly valid claim that black people commit a "disproportionately large share of reported crimes" would require the majority of black people to commit crimes repeatedly without getting caught. Are they speculating that the CJ system really that inept?

[jmg257]

3. How ridiculous depends on your location...Chicago for instance...

Chicago: 75% of Murdered are Black, 71% of Murderers are Black
...
Simply put, Chicago has a massive Black-on-Black murder problem. All of the data below comes from the Chicago Police Department. You can access it here.

In 2011, the latest data officially released by the Chicago Police, there were 433 homicides. Of these, just 128 (29%) had a corresponding prosecution.
...
83.4% of deaths were from shootings, 6.7% stabbings, and 6.5% assaults. Of the 362 firearm homicides, 351 (97%) were from handguns. 77% of all homicide victims had a prior arrest history. Victims were 90% male.
...
In 2011, there were 140 convicted offenders for the 128 victims with an associated prosecution. There were more offenders than victims because 10.7% of homicides had two offenders and 10.0% had three or more offenders convicted. 87% of all offenders had a prior arrest history. Offenders were 88% male.

http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/chicago-75-murdered-are-black-71-murderers-are-black

[loyalsister]

4. Why would they use data from a single city to form a general opinion

regarding why cops shoot black people disproportanately in Florida, Missouri, Minnesota, Lousiana, NY.......

"Prior arrest history" does not necessarily mean a person committed a crime.

Deflecting the very real on the ground experiences and the cultiurally embedded bigotry with black on black crime stats is most often cited by racists on FOX news.

[jmg257]

6. Chicago was an example - not sure where 538 got/gets their info from. There are others,

but agreed they would have to do LOTS more research to fill in the gaps. Are there stats available for many cities? I would think but do not know for sure(?).


"Prior arrest history" does not necessarily mean a person committed a crime."

Oh, of course...could have been a LOT of bogus arrests.

[Angel Martin]

5. when you look at arrest numbers

as well as the reported offender demographics from the Criminal Victimization Survey, they consistently show that black offenders commit a disproportionate share of crimes except for liquor, DUI, public intoxication

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/tables/43tabledatadecoverviewpdf

http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5366

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Right on!!

No going to change until Fake Noise changes their story line.