Do white law enforcement officers target minority suspects?

submitted by DffrntDrmmr from self.whatever

An extensive national study from the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) at Rutgers University reveals some surprising answers.

Analysis of every use of deadly force by police officers across the United States indicates that the killing of black suspects is not a white police problem and the killing of unarmed suspects of any race is extremely rare.

"There might be some bad apples in the police department, but white officers are no more likely to use lethal force against minorities than nonwhite officers," says Charles Menifield, lead author of the study and SPAA's dean.

High-profile killings of unarmed black men - like that of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, which gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement - have led many to speculate that white police officers may target nonwhite suspects with lethal force, Menifield says.

The Rutgers research found, however, that white police officers actually kill black and other minority suspects at lower rates than would be expected if killings were randomly distributed among officers of all races.

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[–]SteveTafe 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yes, due to their high rate of crime

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (21 children)

Yes I think it's true to some extent, but also 50% of people killed by police in the US are white.

The police are generally violent in the US. US has 1300 murders of citizens by police per year, France has about 2 and Germany has about 1.

The police violence problem is a nation-wide problem that affects everyone. Black people are killed at a higher rate, but our overall national level is also way out of whack with global norms. Even if police stopped all killings of black people forever, there would still be about 900 still killed by police every year in the US. So it goes far beyond a race issue. It affects all races. All Americans.

And I actually think over-focusing on race in regards to this police violence issue is a divide-and-conquer tactic to keep whites and blacks from unifying to solve a common problem that our whole country faces. Everyone getting together and realizing we're on the same team and suffering the same things at a national level, is exactly what they don't want

[–]Desdinova 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (20 children)

US has 1300 murders of citizens by police per year,

That's not true. The definition of "murder" is an unlawful killing. Are you sure you don't mean manslaughter, which is anytime a human kills another human, but may be justified or not. Are you deliberately using a loaded word incorrectly or did you just not know what it meant?

[–]magnora7 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (19 children)

I view them as murders because they're overwhelmingly unnecessary. The statistics from other countries prove this.

I guess the numbers have fallen a bit since I closely tracked this issue back in 2012 or so. They were about 1300 per year, but now it's about 1000 per year which is good. Anyway, here is a full list of all the people killed by police in 2019, with news articles about each incident linked on the side. Pick some articles at random and decide for yourself: https://killedbypolice.net/kbp2019/

But the fact most countries don't have this massive police killing problem shows that the US is clearly doing it wrong. We shouldn't have per-capita rates of police killing people that is more similar to Brazil than Europe! Police need retraining and more scrutiny and justice for misconduct. Right now it's a bit of a free-for-all, and the numbers reflect that.

[–]Desdinova 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (18 children)

I view them as murders because they're overwhelmingly unnecessary.

The meaning of the word murder is not "someone feels it is unnecessary". The definition is "An unlawful killing". You are deliberately misusing the word.

The statistics from other countries prove this.

What other country has the demographics and the number of violent criminals with access to guns that the USA has?

Police need retraining and more scrutiny and justice for misconduct.

By who? I really distrust the idea of the police investigating themselves, but I am equally, if not more wary of the "social justice" groups. And what magic training would help stop this? Have you taken any firearms training? What would you recommend. I think maybe citizen training might be in order. Something along the line of "you fight your case in court, if you run or fight a cop in the street you may get killed". It's not that complicated.

How many of those people on that list are life long criminals? I think it might add something if the page linked to a copy of each persons criminal record.

[–]magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (17 children)

The definition is "An unlawful killing".

It would be unlawful, if the laws were properly applied instead of police getting a free pass for whatever behavior they deem reasonable

[–]Desdinova 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (16 children)

It would be unlawful,

Here's the problem, if you are posting about an issue like this, and you feel justified in using an emotionally loaded word, that is not accurate, because you feel that in some alternate reality it would be correct. Then anytime you say anything else I am going to remember that you are willing to mis state things to score points.

And knowing that I'm much less likely to take seriously anything else that you claim.

[–]magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (15 children)

Ah okay, so I take that word back because it's a little too harsh for the legal reality of today's rigged system. Now can we focus on the actual problem instead of the minute wording differences? Or were you not really that interested in the problem in the first place?

[–]Desdinova 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (14 children)

minute wording differences

It's not a "minute difference", it's a huge gulf between murder and justifiable homicide. You used if for a reason, to mislead people, IMO.

[–]magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (13 children)

No I used it to emphasize the unjust nature of their crimes, and how broken the justice system is.

I see you're still more focused on my wording than the actual problem. Good day.

[–]Desdinova 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (12 children)

Words mean things. Words are how we talk about the actual problem. I guess if you have video chat of some kind we could try to do it through pantomime?

And what crimes are you talking about? Are you saying anytime a cop kills a citizen it's a crime?