Citation

Worrall JL, Bishopp SA, Zinser SC, Wheeler AP, Phillips SW. Crime Delinq. 2018; 64(9): 1171-1192.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0011128718756038

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The controversy surrounding recent high-profile police shootings (e.g., Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; Laquan McDonald in Chicago) has prompted inquiry into the possible existence of bias in officers' use-of-force decisions. Using a balanced mix of shoot/don't shoot cases from a large municipal police department in the Southwestern United States, this study analyzed the effect of suspect race on officers' decisions to shoot--while accounting for other theoretically relevant factors.

FINDINGS suggest that Black suspects were not disproportionately the target of police shootings; Black suspects were approximately one third as likely to be shot as other suspects. This finding challenges the current bias narrative and is consistent with the other race-related findings in recently published research.

Language: en