Will justice be served? - A brief history of Police Violence

WILL JUSTICE BE SERVED? A Brief History of Police Violence.

Purti Hardikar 1

“More than half of police killings are often mislabeled, New Study says”.

Washington Post

“States with more permissive gun laws have more police killings”.

The New York Times

“Police are killing fewer people in big cities, But more in suburban and Rural America”.

Five Thirty Eight

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30,922

5

DEATHS caused by Police Violence in the USA. The burden of fatal police violence is an urgent public health crisis in the United States of America.

This study examines the presence and extent of the killings based on population, gender, race and age from the year 2000 to 2021.

It further analyses the case of conviction of the felony, to know If justice will ever be served?

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Will justice be served?

Police Violence: A Case study of the United States of America.

Purti Hardikar

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Copyright © [2021] Purti V. Hardikar All rights reserved.

All contents of the book are in Futura (Sans-Seirf) 10/12, 8/10

Contents: 01.

Police violence in USA

11

02.

Trend Line

21

03.

Demographic Study

29

04.

Conviction Rates

35

05.

Bibliography

49

11

Police Violence: Analyzing the case of the USA.

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Police Violence This book is a case study of police violence in the United States, by accumulating data from various sources. The term “police violence” is sometimes used to refer to various human rights violations by police. This might include beatings, racial abuse, unlawful killings, torture, or indiscriminate use of riot control agents at protests.

Police shootings have taken place in every state and have occurred more frequently in cities where populations are concentrated.

Probability theory may offer an explanation.

It holds that the quantity of rare events in huge populations tends to remain stable absent major societal changes, such as a fundamental shift in police culture or extreme restrictions on gun ownership.

33.3% USA

9.8% 2.0% 1.3% Canada Netherlands Germany

The United States has more percentage of killings as compared to any other wealthy developed nations.

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Police Violence - Mapping the United States:

WA MT

OR

OR

ID WY

CA

NV UT

CO

AZ NM

AK HI

ONE DEATH RECORDED.

VT ND

ME MN WI

SD

MI

IA

NE

PA IL

KS

MO

IN

WV

NJ VA NC

TN SC

AR MS

AL

CT

OH

KY

OK TX

MA RI

NY

DE MD Deaths 0-50

GA

50-80

LA

80-200

FL

200-500 500+

This map enables a richer understanding the geographic and demographic patterns of police violence in the United States.

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Total Death Count Per State (2000-2021)

500+ Deaths California Texas Florida Georgia Arizona Ohio Illions Pennsylvania Montana

2,799 1,960 1,284 782 621 615 574 553 546

200-500 Michigan Oklahoma North Carolina Maine Colorado Washington Alabama New York Tennessee South Carolina Indiana Las Vegas Virginia Maryland Nevada Wisconsin New Mexico Kentucky Mississippi Oregon Kansas Arkansas Minnesota

499 495 478 476 468 461 457 458 440 434 425 406 380 330 309 307 296 278 268 257 254 254 226

80-200 Utah Iowa Massachusetts West Virginia Nebraska Idaho Connecticut Missouri Alaska

50-80 186 175 146 142 133 131 95 91 85

0-50

Hawaii New Jersey South Dakota

79 54 50

North Carolina Vermont Rhode Island

40 29 14

These are location of a few states which have the highest number of killings:

2,799

1960

CALIFORNIA TEXAS

1284

782

FLORIDA

GEORGIA 19

Six facts about police in the United States:

01.

Not one US States complies with international law and standard on the use of lethal force by police.

04.

Micheal Brown, for instance, who was unarmed, was shot almost six times.

02.

In the United States, the majority of deaths which are caused at the hands of police are the result of an officer using a firearm.

05.

According to Mapping Police Violence, in 2019, Black people were 24% of those killed by the police despite being only 12% of the population.

03.

In many cases, officers have shot people multiple times, as a indication of using a level of force that was not necessary.

06.

A 1996 law authorized the US Department of Defense to provide surplus equipment to law enforcement agencies.

This has resulted in police having equipment designed for military use to be deployed at protests.

Source: Amnesty International

2000 2005 2010 2015

862 1169 1292

1031 as of November

1609

2020 2021

2060 926 as of November

As per Washington Post, 926 deaths have been recorded in the year 2021.

21

Trend Line Analyzing the timeline 2000–2020

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Death Trend Line (2000-2010 & 2011–2020) Analysis of more than five years of data reveals that the number and circumstances of fatal shootings and the overall demographics of the victims have remained relatively constant.

Despite the unpredictable events that have lead to fatal shootings, police nationwide have shot and killed almost the same number of people annually — nearly 1,000 — as documented by the Post.

The year-on-year patterns of these killings remain on a constant rise. For each consecutive year, it is reflected that more than twice the number of deadly shootings are 5 facts about police use of force in the USA.

The trend lines compare a time frame of every 10 years which shows how the killings have increased with time from its lowest of 890 in the year 2000 to 2060 in the year 2020.

TWO DEATHS RECORDED.

3000

No. of Deaths

2500

2000

1500

1000

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Years

Number of Deaths (2000–2010)

3000

No. of deaths recorded = 2060

2500

No. of Deaths

which is the highest number.

2000

1500

1000

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Years

Number of Deaths (2011–2020) 25

2,060 147

161

Jan’20

Feb’20

in the year 2020 the highest number of deaths in the history of police violence was recorded.

213

165

213

Mar’20

Apr’20

May’20

165

100

June’20

160

161

July’20

Aug’20

181

148

156

178

Sept’20

Oct’20

Nov’20

Dec’20

The diagram shows the number of people killed in each month in the year 2020, with each dot representing one person.

each line = 10 People each dot = 1 Person

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Only 12 days in 2021 where police did not kill someone.

2021

Source: mapping police violence

As of November 2021, the above mapping shows that almost everyday people were killed in the United States by police violence.

The red marks indicate more than 3 people per-day.

29

Demographic Study Analyzing the gender, race and age biases in the death ratios.

31

Gender Comparisons:

A common assumption is that fatal police shootings most often occur in urban locations, and more number of males are shot because some of those areas are perceived to be plagued by high levels of community gun violence.

Researchers have estimated that about 20 times as many men as women were killed by the police over the past several decades.

An overwhelming majority of people shot and killed by police are male, reason being unidentified as per researchers.

It is seen that 94% of the killings by police have been male as compared to that of female killings.

94% 6%

Gender: Male Female

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Gender Comparisons (2000–2010 & 2011–2020) It is observed that the number of males killed by police have always been more than the number of females. It is a question so as to why this is the case. Researcher’s feel it is the psychological reason of one male killing or shooting another male, to show a sense of power and superiority which is amongst them.

It is no surprise that these have racial biases, as well and the killings are normally targeted to black people, which makes it further evident that male black people are killed the most as compared to any race,religion or gender.

The diagrams show comparison of male to female deaths, as seen it is evident that more males are killed as compared to that of the number of females killed. * The data excludes transgenders for this comparison.

The trend line shows the number of deaths in comparison with the number of killings for both genders.

1500

1250

1100

No. of Deaths

1000

750

500

250

100

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Gender (Male vs Female Deaths)

Gender:

2000–2010

Male

1500

Female

1250

1100

No. of Deaths

1000

750

500

250

100

Gender: 2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Male Female

Gender (Male vs Female Deaths) 2010–2020

35

Killings based on Race and Age:

It is observed that the number of killings are normally for the age group which is even considered as the working population. Further to analyze, where there are any other criteria for the killings a study on racial disparities was made.

The study shows, that although half of the people shot and killed by police are white, black Americans are shot at a disproportionate rate. They account for just 13 percent of the U.S. population, but more than a quarter of police shooting victims.

The disparity is even more pronounced among unarmed victims, of whom more than a third are black. They are more likely to be fatally shot while unarmed.

* The data excludes transgenders for this comparison.

Victims by Age

Age Groups

Racial Killings by Police Violence

61% White

13% Black

18% Hispanic

9% Others

*Unknown killings, race and age groups have been excluded from this study.

Source: The Washington Post

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Conviction Rates Analyzing the conviction against crimes

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Will justice be served?

In the United States, police officers fatally shoot about three people per day on an average, a number that is close to the yearly total of a lot of developed nations.

Police officers who stand trial for murder or manslaughter have a unique set of advantages that make a criminal conviction less likely.

Unlike the vast bulk of criminal cases that result in convictions through guilty pleas, many police officers do not plead guilty and they are successful in trial. Police defendants often turn down plea offers knowing that their defense will likely succeed at trial.

“ It is this awesome power that they have that no other profession has,” says Justin Nix, a criminologist at the University of Nebraska.”

THREE DEATHS RECORDED.

Less than 2% of officers are charged for crime.

Convicted Not-Convicted Pending

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Who do you call when the police kill?

It is estimated that over the time period which roughly track the era of the war on drugs and the rise of mass incarnation, nearly 31,000 Americans were killed by the police, with more than 17,000 if them going unaccounted for in the official statistics.

How do police officers react when a new prosecutor takes over? Are police more cautious about using force if they feel more uncertain about whether they might be investigated?

The process of judging these cases is very different from regular criminal cases.

Source: fivethirtyeight It is observed that less than 2% of officers were charged with a crime.

Out of 9179 police killings from 2010-2021, 153 officers were charged with a crime and 38 were convicted.

= One Case

YEARS

Convicted

Not-Convicted

Pending

2010 2011 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 43

How do we stop this?

Civil society organizations have long been calling for police reform in the USA. To make everyone feel safe, congress and all 50 states should pass laws to limit use of lethal force by the police.

Not only do stringent laws need to be formed, but the department of justice should collect and publish detailed, disaggregated data on people killed by police. All cases should be thoroughly, independently, impartially and transparently investigated by those found responsible and should be brought to justice.

“A system cannot fail those it was nevern built to protect.”

— Vann Newkirk.

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30,925 By the time you finished reading this book approximately 3 people have already been killed by police in the USA.

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Bibliography: Britannica. 1963. Britannica. May 3. https://www. britannica.com/topic/Police-Brutality-in-the-UnitedStates-2064580.

International, Amnesty. n.d. What we do police brutality . https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-wedo/police-brutality/.

Kettling. 2020. Kettling Protests. September 30. https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/09/30/ kettling-protesters-bronx/systemic-police-brutalityand-its-costs-united-states#.

2021. Mapping Police Violence . December 12. https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/.

Neal, Elona. 2021. A history of police voilence in America. October 6. https://stacker.com/ stories/4365/history-police-violence-america.

Peeples, Lynne. 2020. Nature News. June 19. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-02001846-z.

2019. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. August 20. https://www.pnas.org/ content/116/34/16793.

Roy, Rashawn. 2020. Policy 2020 Brookings.

August 25. https://www.brookings.edu/ policy2020/votervital/how-can-we-enhancepolice-accountability-in-the-united-states/.

2021. The Lancet. October 02. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/ article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01609-3/fulltext.

2021. The Washington Post. December. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/ investigations/police-shootings-database/.

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Alemany, Jacqueline. 2020. “Power Up: Racism and police violence in spotlight at crucial time in 2020 race.” The Washington Post, May 28.

Aziz, Maryam. 2021. “Calls to disarm the police won’t stop brutality and killings.” The Washington Post, April 18.

Ingraham, Christopher. 2015. “1 in 13 people killed by guns are killed by po.” The Washington Post, June 1.

Kim, Catherine. 2020. “Images of police using violence against peaceful protesters are going viral.” Vox, March 31.

Nix, ohn Shjarback and Justin. 2021. “Guest Post: We’ve been underestimating racial disparities in police use of lethal force.” True Crime, November.

Obasogie, Osagie K. 2020. “Police killing black people is a pandemic, too.” The Washigton Post, June 5.

Remnick, David. 2020. “Can Police Violence Be Curbed?” The New Yorker, June 5.

Satija, Neena. 2021. “Inside a district attorney’s campaign to reform the Austin police department.”

December 17.

Wikipedia. 2021. Wikipedia. December 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_brutality_in_ the_United_States#:~:text=Statista%20claimed%20 that%20in%202020,article%20published%20in%20 The%20Lancet.

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