Study: Police are no more likely to shoot at blacks than whites, but blacks get more rough treatment
Blacks aren’t more likely than whites to be shot at by police, but blacks are more likely to be subjected to rough treatment such as handcuffing, and being pushed to the ground or against a wall, a new study has found.
The study (PDF) by Harvard economist Roland Fryer Jr. found that officers were more likely to shoot without first being attacked when the suspects were white rather than black, the New York Times’ Upshot blog reports. That conclusion was based on 1,332 police shootings between 2000 and 2015 in the Texas cities of Houston, Austin and Dallas; six large counties in Florida; and Los Angeles.
Fryer wanted to also study situations that could provoke a justified police shooting, rather than cases in which a shooting occurred. To do that, he looked at data for Houston only in which suspects were charged with offenses such as attempting to murder an officer, or evading or resisting arrest. He also looked at arrests involving police user of Tasers. In those tense situations, Fryer found that Houston police were about 20 percent less likely to shoot when the suspect was black.
When police force did not involve a shooting, Fryer “found ample racial differences” the Times says. In that portion of his study, Fryer looked at data from New York City’s stop-and-frisk program between 2003 and 2013, and a national survey of civilians about their interactions with police.
The New York Times provides charts showing the differences found in the stop-and-frisk data. In New York City, blacks targeted by police are 17 percent more likely than whites in similar situations to be touched by police, 18 percent more likely to be pushed into a wall, 16 percent more likely to be handcuffed without subsequent arrest, 19 percent more likely to encounter drawn police weapons, 18 percent more likely to be pushed to the ground, and 25 percent more likely to be subjected to use of pepper spray or a baton. The data was for situations in which researchers controlled for characteristics such as gender, age, the reason for the stop, the time of day, whether the stop was in a high-crime area, and the type of identification provided.
Indications of racial bias remained when Fryer also considered whether the suspects complied with officers’ directions, did not verbally threaten police, were not found with weapons and had no contraband. In those situations, blacks were 21 percent more likely than whites to be touched by police, 17 percent more likely to be pushed into a wall, 13 percent more likely to be handcuffed, 10 percent more likely to encounter a drawn weapon, and 8 percent more likely to be pushed to the ground. Blacks were 14 percent less likely, however, to be subjected to pepper spray or a baton.
In the national survey, the racial differences reported were much more pronounced. In similar situations, blacks were 170 percent more likely to be grabbed by police, 217 percent more likely to be handcuffed, 305 percent more likely to have a gun pointed at them, and 87 percent more likely to be kicked or subjected to a stun gun or pepper spray.
Fryer’s research on shootings involved any situation in which police discharged their weapons. The Washington Post has created a database of fatal police shootings in the United States since Jan. 1, 2015. It found that 732 of the victims shot and killed by police were white, 381 were black and 382 were of another or unknown race. Because whites make up a higher percentage of the population than blacks, the statistics indicate that blacks are 2.5 times as likely as whites to be shot and killed by police officers, according to this Washington Post story.
Fryer surmised the differences in data for officer-involved shootings and nonlethal force by police stem from potential ramifications for the officers. When police unnecessarily fire their guns, they face legal and psychological costs, Fryer says. But use of force absent a shooting is less likely to be tracked or punished.
Fryer tells the Times that the research explains the disillusionment of black youth. “Who the hell wants to have a police officer put their hand on them or yell and scream at them? It’s an awful experience,” said Fryer, who is black. “I’ve had it multiple, multiple times. Every black man I know has had this experience. Every one of them. It is hard to believe that the world is your oyster if the police can rough you up without punishment. And when I talked to minority youth, almost every single one of them mentions lower level uses of force as the reason why they believe the world is corrupt.”
