Do White Law Enforcement Officers Target Minority Suspects ?
The number of persons annually killed by law enforcement officers has significantly reduced over the last 40 years . Despite this , studies have repeatedly found the number of African Americans killed by police officers are disproportionately higher than other races . Over the last few years , there have been a number of high-profile killings of African Americans by white police officers . These incidents have further eroded trust between the police and minority citizens and has led some to speculate white officers may target non-white persons when using lethal force .
The purpose of this study is to determine whether “ white officers are more likely to use lethal force on minority suspects or people a specific race .” This factual determination is critical to facilitating the conversation needed to build this trust .
As part of their literature review researchers described several robust experimental studies that suggested officer-involved shootings of African Americans were not the result of officers ’ racial bias . Still , these studies did not specifically address the issue of shootings of African Americans by white officers . To address this question , a database was constructed of 860 and 1,092 persons who were intentionally killed by officers in 2014 and 2015 respectfully .
The breakdown of persons killed were 51 percent white , 28.1 percent African American , 19.3 percent Hispanic / Latino and 1.7 percent Asian American . With African American making up 13 percent of the population they were significantly over represented in the number of persons killed while whites made up significantly less .
Second , they evaluated the proposition that officers are killing unarmed suspects . This study found no evidence to support this assertion . Less than one percent of all persons killed by police were unarmed . The overwhelming majority of persons “ killed by police are armed with two-thirds armed with a gun .”
When the race of the officer was examined , it was noted that 61 percent of the U . S . population is white but whites make up 74 percent of officers in the United States . Taking these factors into account , researchers found that African Americans are killed at slightly higher rates by nonwhite officers than by white officers .
The researchers concluded their article with the statement , “ Police officers have a difficult and sometimes dangerous job , and the realities of the job sometimes make it necessary to use force – even lethal force- on citizens .” The perceived racial disparities in the way force is applied has eroded trust between law enforcement and the public . This reduced level of trust will continue until fundamental changes in public policy are taken .
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Charles E . Menifield , Geiguen Shin , and Logan Strother , “ Do White Law Enforcement Officers Target Minority Suspects ?”, Public Administration Review , January / February 2019 , Vol 79 , Issue 1 , pp . 56-68 .
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