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The theory that African Americans are being shot by police because they are black is not supported by data. About 50% of deaths at the hand of police are white

by _quasar 11y ago

The theory that African Americans are being shot by police because they are black is not supported by data. About 50% of deaths at the hand of police are white and 30% black. Of course that means blacks are overrepresented compared to their percentage in the population. However, adjusting to blacks' higher crime rate shows that in fact whites are 1.7 times more likely to be shot by police. Policemen are well aware of potential political fallout when dealing with potentially dangerous African American subjects and think twice before shooting. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/21/police-kill-more-whites-than-blacks-but-minority-d/?page=all http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/21/police-kill-...

snowwrestler 11y ago
This Times article makes a mistake by acknowledging that the data are not trustworthy, but then relying on the data to make its point. For example it concludes: > “Yes, more whites than blacks die as a result of an encounter with police, but whites also represent a much bigger chunk of the total population,” PolitiFact said in its Aug. 21 post. > But PolitiFact did not take into account the percentage of those by race involved in violent crime or shootings of police, as Mr. Moskos did. The data of who is involved in violent crime or shootings of police are themselves in question, because they are self-reported by the very officers and departments who are under consideration. Saying that police can't be biased, because their self-reported data does not show bias, is begging the question. Until very recently, with only a few exceptions, the only data on police activity was provided by police themselves. The ubiquity of camera phones is now providing a growing body of independently gathered--and contradictory--evidence. I think this represents a fundamental shift that is taking place in policing today.
dweinus 11y ago
1) The analysis here is conducted by a pretty biased source: a former cop 2) his data is fed by news reports which may not evenly cover actual incidents 3) 25% of the data lacks racial info at all 4) The likelihood of biased policing being a factor in higher reported African American crime rates completely undercuts the conclusion he reaches Put another way: there are at least 2 layers of biases that occured before Mr. Moskos even touched the data.
- _quasar 11y ago
  > 1) The analysis here is conducted by a pretty biased source: a former cop OK > 2) his data is fed by news reports which may not evenly cover actual incidents OK, although I doubt white deaths are reported LESS than black deaths (nothing to support it) > 3) 25% of the data lacks racial info at all OK, but this won't affect conclusion that much. Even if all those incidents involve black subject, it won't affect the conclusion. > 4) the likelihood of biased policing being a factor in higher reported African American crime rates completely undercuts the conclusion he reaches https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded/expanded-homicide-data https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/... Of the 12,664 murders 4,077 were cases where offender's race was unknown leaving 8,587. Males were responsible for about 90%. 90% of 8,587= 7,728 US murders we know to be committed by males. White males committed 45.2% of 7,728 murders which = 3,143 murders. Black males committed 52.4% of 7,728 murders which = 4,049 murders. Black males make up 7% of this nation's population with about 19m individuals. White males make up about 28% of this nation's population with about 112m individuals. Odds of a white man being a murderer: 1 in 35,634. Odds of a black man being a murderer: 1 in 4,693. African American male is 9 times more likely to commit homicide. It's very unlikely that biased policing is the cause of 9x homicide conviction rate.

by _quasar 11y ago

snowwrestler 11y ago

This Times article makes a mistake by acknowledging that the data are not trustworthy, but then relying on the data to make its point. For example it concludes: > “Yes, more whites than blacks die as a result of an encounter with police, but whites also represent a much bigger chunk of the total population,” PolitiFact said in its Aug. 21 post. > But PolitiFact did not take into account the percentage of those by race involved in violent crime or shootings of police, as Mr. Moskos did. The data of who is involved in violent crime or shootings of police are themselves in question, because they are self-reported by the very officers and departments who are under consideration. Saying that police can't be biased, because their self-reported data does not show bias, is begging the question. Until very recently, with only a few exceptions, the only data on police activity was provided by police themselves. The ubiquity of camera phones is now providing a growing body of independently gathered--and contradictory--evidence. I think this represents a fundamental shift that is taking place in policing today.

dweinus 11y ago

1) The analysis here is conducted by a pretty biased source: a former cop 2) his data is fed by news reports which may not evenly cover actual incidents 3) 25% of the data lacks racial info at all 4) The likelihood of biased policing being a factor in higher reported African American crime rates completely undercuts the conclusion he reaches Put another way: there are at least 2 layers of biases that occured before Mr. Moskos even touched the data.

_quasar 11y ago
> 1) The analysis here is conducted by a pretty biased source: a former cop OK > 2) his data is fed by news reports which may not evenly cover actual incidents OK, although I doubt white deaths are reported LESS than black deaths (nothing to support it) > 3) 25% of the data lacks racial info at all OK, but this won't affect conclusion that much. Even if all those incidents involve black subject, it won't affect the conclusion. > 4) the likelihood of biased policing being a factor in higher reported African American crime rates completely undercuts the conclusion he reaches https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded/expanded-homicide-data https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/... Of the 12,664 murders 4,077 were cases where offender's race was unknown leaving 8,587. Males were responsible for about 90%. 90% of 8,587= 7,728 US murders we know to be committed by males. White males committed 45.2% of 7,728 murders which = 3,143 murders. Black males committed 52.4% of 7,728 murders which = 4,049 murders. Black males make up 7% of this nation's population with about 19m individuals. White males make up about 28% of this nation's population with about 112m individuals. Odds of a white man being a murderer: 1 in 35,634. Odds of a black man being a murderer: 1 in 4,693. African American male is 9 times more likely to commit homicide. It's very unlikely that biased policing is the cause of 9x homicide conviction rate.