Citation

Buehler JW. Am. J. Public Health 2016; 107(2): 295-297.

Affiliation

James W. Buehler is with the Department of Health Management and Policy, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, American Public Health Association)

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2016.303575

PMID

27997230

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To update previous examinations of racial/ethnic disparities in the use of lethal force by US police.

METHODS: I examined online national vital statistics data for deaths assigned an underlying cause of "legal intervention" (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, external-cause-of-injury codes Y35.0-Y35.7, excluding Y35.5 [legal execution]) for the 5-year period 2010 to 2014.

RESULTS: Death certificates identified 2285 legal intervention deaths (1.5 per million population per year) from 2010 to 2014. Among males aged 10 years or older, who represented 96% of these deaths, the mortality rate among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic individuals was 2.8 and 1.7 times higher, respectively, than that among White individuals.

CONCLUSIONS: Substantial racial/ethnic disparities in legal intervention deaths remain an ongoing problem in the United States. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print December 20, 2016: e1-e3. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303575).

Language: en