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> Higher Quality Covariate Data is Needed. > Ecological regression on county-level characteristics is plagued by difficulties theoretically [39, 51]; issues wi

by rexpop 10y ago

> Higher Quality Covariate Data is Needed. > Ecological regression on county-level characteristics is plagued by difficulties theoretically [39, 51]; issues with data quality make it even harder to use county-level data. In the analysis of county-level predictors of racial bias in police shootings conducted in this paper, some of the data were low quality. Notably, the crime data may be biased by the reporting practices of the police, and Florida, Alabama, and Illinois failed to fully release data, which led to the use Bayesian imputation for counties in these states. I'd like to see BLM take this on as their a demand during their next direct action: better data for Cody Ross @ the Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis

mdjeu 10y ago
Yes, better data is needed. I feel weird being a skeptic of this study, because I personally believe law enforcement in the US is out of control, but... In this area, there's so many important factors relating to the nature of the events, that "armed" versus "unarmed" and race are insufficient to get a good estimate of what's going on. If someone is unarmed but posing a threat to an officer (e.g., by reaching for their gun), and that threatening behavior varies by race, it's not bias, but racial differences in criminal behavior. To be clear, the whole law enforcement system seems abundantly racist to me in all sorts of ways, but to me studies like this only become fodder for criticism. Maybe the problem is that the data isn't detailed enough, though, and this is the best that could be done. If so, the solution is better-quality data.
jessedhillon 10y ago
I'm skeptical of any socio-political movement demanding more science -- not because more science isn't needed, but that I doubt the movement would avow and abide by results which are contradictory to their vision. This isn't a criticism, per se -- just recognizing that BLM and other movements are driven by experience, and one of the key claims of the victims of those experiences is that their suffering is invisible. Therefore, any study which invalidates that experience would serve as further proof of the invisibility of their suffering. Again, this isn't meant to single out or criticize BLM.
- sevenless 10y ago
  That's a good point, and I like how it goes against the typical HN 'solutionism' mindset. You cannot science your way out of every problem, and sometimes you're simply trying to answer an inappropriate question. Really, conventional politics has failed, and all one can say is the country is deeply divided, and millions of people hate each other. At every mass shooting and police-relations crisis, the same people trot out the same things to say. There is a real lack of innovative thinking around politics, the state, and restructuring society in fairer and less harmful ways.

by rexpop 10y ago

mdjeu 10y ago

Yes, better data is needed. I feel weird being a skeptic of this study, because I personally believe law enforcement in the US is out of control, but... In this area, there's so many important factors relating to the nature of the events, that "armed" versus "unarmed" and race are insufficient to get a good estimate of what's going on. If someone is unarmed but posing a threat to an officer (e.g., by reaching for their gun), and that threatening behavior varies by race, it's not bias, but racial differences in criminal behavior. To be clear, the whole law enforcement system seems abundantly racist to me in all sorts of ways, but to me studies like this only become fodder for criticism. Maybe the problem is that the data isn't detailed enough, though, and this is the best that could be done. If so, the solution is better-quality data.

jessedhillon 10y ago

I'm skeptical of any socio-political movement demanding more science -- not because more science isn't needed, but that I doubt the movement would avow and abide by results which are contradictory to their vision. This isn't a criticism, per se -- just recognizing that BLM and other movements are driven by experience, and one of the key claims of the victims of those experiences is that their suffering is invisible. Therefore, any study which invalidates that experience would serve as further proof of the invisibility of their suffering. Again, this isn't meant to single out or criticize BLM.

sevenless 10y ago
That's a good point, and I like how it goes against the typical HN 'solutionism' mindset. You cannot science your way out of every problem, and sometimes you're simply trying to answer an inappropriate question. Really, conventional politics has failed, and all one can say is the country is deeply divided, and millions of people hate each other. At every mass shooting and police-relations crisis, the same people trot out the same things to say. There is a real lack of innovative thinking around politics, the state, and restructuring society in fairer and less harmful ways.