Deadly Force

A groundbreaking study of when, where, and whom police shoot in America’s largest cities

Police shootings in America spark outrage and protest and raise questions about police use of lethal force. Yet despite the attention given to high-profile shootings, it is extremely difficult to draw wider conclusions about the frequency and outcomes of police gunfire because there is no systematic and centralized source of information on these incidents. This pioneering book draws on original data, compiled by the authors, to examine police shootings, both fatal and non-fatal, in hundreds of American cities. It documents racial disparities in shooting incidents and shows that the media spotlight on the most shocking fatal shootings tell only part of the story of police gunfire in our cities.

The authors find that there are patterns in when, where, and whom the police shoot, and they present strong evidence of unjustifiable disparities. It’s not just that young, unarmed Black men are disproportionately subjected to gunfire during encounters with police officers; there is also a disproportionate concentration of shootings in the places where most Black and Hispanic urbanites live, even accounting for violent crime rates and other factors. As a consequence, Black and Hispanic residents of large cities are disproportionately exposed to police gunfire, even when they are not themselves the targets of it. The authors offer other insights as well, exploring the connection between department funding and rates of shootings, and considering the influence of a city’s political leadership on police use of gunfire. It is only through a deeper understanding of police shootings, the authors argue, that we can reduce their incidence and make effective reform possible.