Historical Lynchings and Contemporary Police Killings

• In Event: Racially-Motivated Extremism, Discrimination, and Other Bias Outcomes

Abstract

Black Americans are subject to disproportionate use of deadly force by police officers, relative to other population groups. While research has assessed the prevalence of these incidents, very little research has attempted to understand how these differences are rooted in historical processes. In the assessment of contemporary racial violence, scholars often look to the past to provide a broader, historicized context through which contemporary racial violence is concentrated within its lens. For example, lynching is often situated as a significant form of racialized violence due to its “legacy,” or lasting influence on the institutions and persons subject to its control. In recognition of lynching as a potential antecedent of modern racial violence, this research examines the relationship between historical lynchings and contemporary police killings using data from the American Community Survey (ACS), and multiple data sources on lynching and police violence, including data compiled by the Equal Justice Initiative (2017) and Mapping Police Violence. In comparing community-level counts of historical lynchings and police violence, this research aims to better understand the relationship between past and present outcomes with regard to racialized violence.

Authors

• Rachel Strickland, Florida State University

• Brendan Lantz, Florida State University