Police Use of Deadly Force: An Analysis of Incident-Level Characteristics

• In Event: Poster Session II

Abstract

The unjustified use of deadly force by police officers is a concern for police agencies in regards to potential legitimacy costs. However, there has been limited research on predictors of official court dispositions for deadly force incidents involving police officers. Indeed, there is limited and often misrepresented data on police officers using deadly force in the United States. This is a critical problem for the perceived legitimacy of police agencies because lacking a clear understanding of contextual factors surrounding an incident and the subsequent court disposition may lead to public misconceptions of deadly force. This study utilizes crowdsourced data and news articles identifying deadly force incidents for the time frame of 2010-2013 involving police officers in the United States. A multilevel logistic regression model is used to evaluate predictors of official court dispositions for incidents. Incident-level characteristics including the type of deadly force used, demographic variables, whether the deceased had a weapon, type of crime in progress, and location will be analyzed.

Authors

• Rachael Brooks, Washington State University

• Dale Willits, Washington State University