Racial Police Discrimination PART 1 (Wait 10 minutes for part 2)

While it is true that white people experience police brutality at a higher rate, people need to understand that this is because whites are 60% of the country and blacks are 13% The question is whether or not there is proportionality. In other words. Are you more likely to be killed as a black man due to discrimination rather than an actual criminal offense?

When looking at fatal shootings specifically whites experience 25% of fatal shootings per capita and 50% of blacks experience fatal shootings. Blacks are 2.5x more likely to be victims of police shootings. So case closed right? Blacks are discriminated against more right? Not quite. The question is whether or not these shootings are justified relative to the crime rates.

Blacks interact with the police more. If they commit crimes at a higher rate. Then we can expect a higher level of misconduct.

If we look at what causes crime, then experts (both liberal and conservative) will agree that poverty is a much larger factor than race. White communities with similar circumstances experience the same level of crime. It is worth noting that black men are disproportionately affected by poverty. So yes. We agree that black men naturally will commit more crime.

So how much of this police misconduct is due to racial bias? An unarmed black man is roughly 2x more likely to be shot by an officer than an unarmed white man. Black and white crime rates have no effect. The study looks at what happens after an encounter with the police. The study also found that black men were less likely to be posing a threat to police before the attack.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/study-finds-police-fatally-shoot-unarmed-black-men-at-disproportionate-rates/2016/04/06/e494563e-fa74-11e5-80e4-c381214de1a3_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b9b0fcfc7e15

Another study backed the same core idea that determined black Americans are 3.5x more likely to be shot by an officer than an unarmed white man between 2011-2014.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0141854

Those are the shootings. But what about ALL use of force?

A 3-year study between the interaction of 19,000 officers from 2010 and 2015 found that force was being used on blacks at 3 times the rate of whites.

http://policingequity.org/study-reports-racial-disparities-regarding-police-use-force/

Let's look at search an seizures. Black men are searched 4 more likely to be searched for contraband as white drivers. But the police uncovered 2x the amount of contraband on white drivers.

https://chicagopatf.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PATF_Final_Report_Executive_Summary_4_13_16-1.pdf

Black men are also more likely to be stopped for no reason. In those scenarios, blacks were likely to experience brutality even when the black suspect shows no resistance.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/racial-disparity-traffic-stops-driving-black.html

Those are just the encounters. How about prison? The prison population is overwhelmingly black, but there is a disproportionate number of black men in jail for nonviolent drug offenses despite the fact drugs are purchased at the same rate from both blacks and whites. Blacks also receive longer sentences. Whether or not this is a first time offender has no bearing on this date. Even if we account for repeated offenders, blacks still get more time for the same crime.

https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/141027_iachr_racial_disparities_aclu_submission_0.pdf

https://www.aclu.org/issues/mass-incarceration/smart-justice/war-marijuana-black-and-white

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2016/03/09/seven-things-to-know-about-repeat-offenders

https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/11/17/16668770/us-sentencing-commission-race-booker

How about exonerations? Blacks are 7x more likely to go to jail but exonerated 3x as much as whites. Out of those exonerees, 22% were more likely to encounter police misconduct. Only about 15% of murders by African Americans have white victims, but 31% of innocent African-American murder exonerees were convicted of killing white people. In other words, the police make more mistakes when dealing with black men. During those mistakes, their rates of misconduct are higher.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/7/14834454/exoneration-innocence-prison-racism

MORE INFORMATION BELOW

*******************************ARTICLES*******************************

December 11, 2014 Economist - Don't Shoot
https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21636044-americas-police-kill-too-many-people-some-forces-are-showing-how-smarter-less

April 30, 2015 Washington Post - Meet the economist who grew up among crack dealers and won a ‘mini-Nobel’ for his research on race - The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/04/30/meet-the-economist-who-grew-up-among-crack-dealers-and-won-a-mini-nobel-for-his-research-on-race/

August 11, 2015 New York Times - Data on Use of Force by Police Across U.S. Proves Almost Useless - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/us/data-on-use-of-force-by-police-across-us-proves-almost-useless.html

July 7, 2016 New York Times - Study Supports Suspicion That Police Are More Likely to Use Force on Blacks - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/08/us/study-supports-suspicion-that-police-use-of-force-is-more-likely-for-blacks.html

July 11, 2016 Rajiv Sethi - Police Use of Force: Notes on a Study
https://rajivsethi.blogspot.com/2016/07/police-use-of-force-notes-on-study.html

July 11, 2016 Washington Post - Aren’t More White People Than Black People Killed By Police? Yes, But No
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/11/arent-more-white-people-than-black-people-killed-by-police-yes-but-no/?utm_term=.17e7a00974b9

July 13, 2016 FactCheck.org - Killed in the Line of Duty
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/07/killed-in-the-line-of-duty/

July 13, 2016 Washington Post - How A Controversial Study Found That Police Are More Likely To Shoot Whites, Not Blacks
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/13/why-a-massive-new-study-on-police-shootings-of-whites-and-blacks-is-so-controversial/

August 8, 2015 Washington Post - Ferguson: Police Still Killing Unarmed Black Men One Year Later
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2015/08/08/black-and-unarmed/

August 15, 2016 Vox - How Systemic Racism Entangles All Police Officers — Even Black Cops
https://www.vox.com/2015/5/7/8562077/police-racism-implicit-bias

May 6, 2017 Vox - American Police Shoot and Kill Far More People Than Their Peers In Other Countries - Police Shootings And Brutality In The US: 9 Things You Should Know
https://www.vox.com/cards/police-brutality-shootings-us/us-police-shootings-statistics

*******************************OFFICIAL*******************************
Black Lives Matter Official
https://blacklivesmatter.com

Black and Unarmed: Behind the Numbers | The Marshall Project
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2016/02/08/black-and-unarmed-behind-the-numbers#.Q7oNSdUOj

DOJ - Use Of Force By Police Overview Of National And Local Data
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/176330.pdf

DOJ - Investigation Of The Seattle Police Department
https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/12/16/spd_findletter_12-16-11.pdf

DOJ - Albuquerque Police Department - Findings Letter - April 10, 2014
https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/04/10/apd_findings_4-10-14.pdf

BJS - Police-Public Contact Survey: Assessment And Recommendations For Producing Trend Estimates after 2011 Questionnaire Redesign
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ppcsarpte11qr.pdf

ACLU - Microsoft Word - ACLU.Racial.Disparities.Sentencing.FINAL.docx
https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/141027_iachr_racial_disparities_aclu_submission_0.pdf

ACLU - The War on Marijuana in Black and White | American Civil Liberties Union
https://www.aclu.org/issues/mass-incarceration/smart-justice/war-marijuana-black-and-white

ACLU - American Civil Liberties Union
https://www.aclu.org/search/%20?f%5B0%5D=field_issues%3A245&f%5B1%5D=type%3Apress_release

ACLU - Fighting Police Abuse: A Community Action Manual | American Civil Liberties Union
https://www.aclu.org/other/fighting-police-abuse-community-action-manual#some

ACLU - For Black Men, Running Is A Reasonable Reaction To Police Harassment And Racial Profiling, Concludes Massachusetts’ Supreme Court | American Civil Liberties Union
https://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/reforming-police-practices/black-men-running-reasonable-reaction-police