#ICantBreathe When You Call It "Justifiable" Homicide | The Odyssey Online
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Politics and Activism

#ICantBreathe When You Call It "Justifiable" Homicide

The truth about our so-called justice system's predisposition to violence and racial disparity

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#ICantBreathe When You Call It "Justifiable" Homicide

Now that #AltonSterling and #PhilandoCastile are trending on Twitter, there is a whole new wave of hate blowing up every social media outlet you can think of. In these hateful rants, people love to point out that "black-on-black crime" is rampant. That officers are killed in the line of duty every day. That more white people are killed by cops than black people.

I've always had a hard time biting my tongue (whoops), and I'm sorry (not sorry) that I have once again failed to keep my mouth shut. In response to those blanket statement refutations of the existence of police brutality:

"What about black-on-black crime?"

The difference between law enforcement officials killing unarmed black people and "black-on-black crime" is that a) black people don't kill other black people because of their race and b) black people who kill people of any race are imprisoned. See Tre Melvin's video for a more eloquent explanation of the ridiculousness of the term "black-on-black crime."


"All you talk about is police killing civilians, but police officers are killed in the line of duty every day."

Yes, police officers are killed in the line of duty every day. It's a dangerous job, and most of the men and women who wear badges and swear an oath to protect the rest of us are brave and honorable people. But not all of them. Newsflash: law enforcement officials can be criminals.

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 1,439 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty in the past 10 years, or approximately 144 per year. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), a branch of the US Department of Justice, there were 496 reported law enforcement homicides in 2009 and 689 law enforcement homicides in 2011. Moreover, the BJS, based on statistical analysis of Arrest-Related Death reports, similar reports to the FBI, and open-source data (crowd-source and search engine tracking), 51 percent of law enforcement homicides go unreported to the BJS.

Let than sink in. Civilians (or shall we say, specific civilians) are about four times more likely to be killed by police, than police are to be killed in the line of duty. And that's just based on the reported data, which is estimated to be about half of the real data. Based on the BJS's lower-bound estimate, an average of 928 law enforcement homicides should have been reported each year for the past eight years. Not 496 in 2009. Not 689 in 2011. Nine hundred and twenty-eight. Every. Year. The upper-bound estimate suggests 1,242 law enforcement homicides should be reported each year.

Let's rewind for a mini contemporary history lesson: 16 years ago, the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 was passed. In order to comply, the Bureau of Justice Statistics began collecting data relating to all deaths that occur each year during arrest, transfer, or detainment in jail or prison. However, each state is responsible for submitting its own data, which, as can be expected, caused some disparities in states' process of identifying and reporting arrest-related deaths.

As of 2009, Arkansas, DC, Georgia, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Wyoming had not submitted any data to the BJS. Also in 2009, the BJS concluded that of all arrest-related deaths that were reported since 2003, more than 60 percent were homicides by law enforcement personnel (as opposed to suicides, intoxication deaths, accidental injury, or death due to natural causes).

In 2013, the BJS suspended its Arrest-Related Deaths data collection program in order to assess the effectiveness of its methodology in response to disparities between the BJS's identification of possible arrest-related deaths using open sources versus the deaths reported by each state.

What does this mean? It means there is no mandatory federal reporting system for police shooting cases. FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer says, "we have no way of knowing how many incidents may have been omitted." In fact, only 224 of 18,000 law enforcement agencies reported any police shooting cases to the FBI in the past year, and none of the Florida police departments (Florida being the 3rd most populated state in the US) reported to the FBI. The NYPD has submitted data for one year out of the past ten years.

And there's more than one way to omit data. Even when police shootings are reported, they are not necessarily classified as law enforcement homicides. Several high-profile cases, including those of Tamir Rice and Eric Garner, were classified as "general homicides."

So, yes, police officers are killed in the line of duty, but in this case the public takes more bullets than its protectors.

"Police kill more white people than black people, so it's not about race."

More white people are killed by police than black people because, according to US Census data from 2015, white people make up 77.1 percent of the US population while black people are only 13.3 percent of the population. This isn't a conversation about numbers, but about statistics, and a failure to grasp the difference perhaps indicates a need to return to a grade school mathematics class.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics' 2011 Police-Public Contact Survey, Black motorists are pulled over more often by police at a traffic stop than White motorists. Black and Hispanic drivers are also more likely to be searched during a routine traffic stop than their White counterparts. The conclusion is that there is a racial lens through which police officers interact with the public.

Note: When I say "police officers," I mean on average, according to aggregate data. I'm not specifically talking about your mom, your dad, your cousin, grandparent, sibling, neighbor, friend, friends' family members, etc. Before taking the data as a personal affront, maybe think about your or your family members, friends, and acquaintances and their unique position to address this issue.

Since there is no reliable government data on police shootings, several open-source reporting projects, including The Counted -- a 2015 project started by The Guardian, have stepped up to the plate. Data from these sources suggests that when you adjust for population size, you get the following results:

For every million Asian/Pacific Islanders, 1.34 were killed by police in 2015.

For every million White people, 2.91 were killed by police in 2015.

For every million Native Americans, 3.4 were killed by police in 2015.

For every million Hispanic/Latinos, 3.48 were killed by police in 2015.

For every million Black people, 7.13 were killed by police in 2015.

Of these killings in 2015, 14 percent of these killings happened after a traffic or street stop. Seven percent followed a non-violent crime. Twenty percent of victims were unarmed. Eighty-nine percent were caused by gunshots. Less than 25 percent were considered "justified" by authorities. Forty-three children under the age of 18 were killed by police.

It is clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that race and law enforcement homicides are connected. It's clear according to the government, and it's clear according to any open source data analysis.


After the murder of Philando Castile, Minnesota governor Mark Dayton said, "Would this have happened if the passengers were white? I don’t think it would have. All of us in Minnesota are forced to confront that this kind of racism exists.” Why do I point this out? Because for all the police brutality deniers out there, it's not just Black people saying, "This isn't fair." It's pretty much everyone with eyes. Our government, from the president down to state and local officials, recognizes that this is a problem.

To top it all off, I am including the best Twitter rant I have ever seen. I mean, standing ovation Twitter rant. Thank you, defense attorney Greg Doucette of North Carolina.

I rest my case.
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