The Sociospatial Ecology of Deaths During Police Interactions in the United States, 2016-2020

Keywords: Police, inequity, race, ethnicity, bias
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 6

Abstract

Who dies during police interactions in the U.S.? This research analyses spatially disaggregated georeferenced data that measure 9,098 deaths occurring by multiple causes during interactions with police throughout the U.S. from 2016 to 2020. We use a Sociospatial Ecology framework that establishes the relationship between social contexts – regional poverty, ethnic/racial diversity, local violence, and political identity – and the risk of dying during encounters with law enforcement in all 3,142 counties nationwide. In addition, we evaluate the effects of police force diversity levels on deaths during police interactions. Controlling for alternative explanations, we show heterogeneous distributions of fatality risk, with large clusters in the Southwest and isolated high-probability pockets in other states. We find that underrepresented and marginalized communities are generally at a greater risk of dying in police custody than the White population. We analyze Native, Latino/a/x, and Black population risks of death separately, with the latter having the greatest probability of dying overall. Furthermore, and with some exceptions, these considerably higher risks for the Black population are distributed broadly across the country, whereas risk maps for other communities illustrate regional patterns.