I Can't Breathe: The Police Use of Deadly Force in Large U.S. Cities

• In Event: 4155 - Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 11. Police Use of Force

Abstract

In this study, I examine one of the most contentious subjects for police-citizen relations, the police use of deadly force (alternatively termed police killings). My analysis attempts to overcome the limitations of past research by employing a longitudinal analysis on police killings in the 170 largest cities in the United States from 1980 to 2010 using imputed data obtained from the FBI Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR). This study fills several important gaps in the literature and is of crucial importance to the growing national debate on the legitimacy of the police use of deadly force. I find evidence that police killings are influenced by the racial composition of a city, which may imply that systemic racial discrimination is present in policing practices on a national scale. I also identify several police organizational factors that may decrease police killings such as greater police officer diversity. Finally, I find evidence of a positive relationship between the killing ‘of’ police officers and the police use of deadly force. These findings have several direct policy implications for policing practices.

Author

• Jonathan Dirlam, Penn State University