A Social Scientific Approach toward Understanding Racial Disparities in Police Shooting: Data from the Department of Justice (1980–2000)

We analyze data from 213 metropolitan areas over a 21‐year period, and examine two possible reasons for the disproportionately high number of Black suspects killed in police officer‐involved shootings. One account suggests that such shootings reflect racial bias on the part of police. A second accou...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of social issues 2017-12, Vol.73 (4), p.701-722
Main Authors: Scott, Kendra, Ma, Debbie S., Sadler, Melody S., Correll, Joshua
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bias
Black people
Black white differences
Crime
Criminal justice
Data
Deadly force
Metropolitan areas
Police
Police community relations
Police shootings
Race
Racial bias
Racial differences
Racial inequality
Racism
Shooting
Shootings
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Summary:We analyze data from 213 metropolitan areas over a 21‐year period, and examine two possible reasons for the disproportionately high number of Black suspects killed in police officer‐involved shootings. One account suggests that such shootings reflect racial bias on the part of police. A second account suggests that Black suspects behave differently (perhaps more aggressively) than White suspects, and that police respond to suspects’ behavior (but not race). Our analysis statistically controls for racial differences in criminal activity (a proxy for behavior) and provides a statistical test of the effect of race on police shootings. Results suggest that officers are more likely to shoot Black suspects, even when race‐based differences in crime are held constant.
ISSN:0022-4537
1540-4560
DOI:10.1111/josi.12243