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A new study on police violence finds significant under-reporting of fatalities and greater risks for Black Americans

Published September 30, 2021

A new study from IHME analyzed data on police violence in the United States from 1980 to 2021 and found over half of deaths from police violence were misclassified or unreported. The researchers also found disproportionately higher rates of death in Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous people.

“Recent high-profile police killings of Black people have drawn worldwide attention to this urgent public health crisis, but the magnitude of this problem can’t be fully understood without reliable data," says co-lead author Fablina Sharara.


Press Release

The Lancet: More than half of police killings in USA are unreported and Black Americans are most likely to experience fatal police violence


Research Article

Fatal police violence by race and state in the USA, 1980-2019: a network meta-regression


Datasets

Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 (GBD 2019) United States Fatal Police Violence by Race and State 1980-2019


Think Global Health Post

Ending Police Violence in America(link is external)


Videos

Eve Wool, Co-First Author, IHME (Transcription available, as well as a second video)

Mohsen Naghavi, Senior Author, IHME (Transcription available)

Alexes Harris, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Washington (Transcription available)

Edwin Lindo, Assistant Dean for Social & Health Justice, School of Medicine, University of Washington (Transcription available)


News Coverage

The New York Times |  More Than Half Of Police Killings Are Undercounted, New Study Says(link is external)

The Washington Post | Killings By Police Are Undercounted By More Than Half, New Study Says(link is external)

NPR | More Than 17,000 Deaths Caused By Police Have Been Misclassified Since 1980(link is external)

Reuters |  Most U.S. Deaths From Police Violence Unrecorded In Main Database- Study(link is external)

Forbes |Study: U.S. Police Killings Have Increased Since 1980 — And Black Americans Face The Highest Risk Of Death(link is external)

Quartz | Official US Data On Police Violence Missed Half The Killings Of The Past 40 Years(link is external) 

The Daily Beast | Feds Failed To Count 17,000 Police Killings Since 1980: Study(link is external)

USA Today | Study: Police Kill More People In This State Than Any Other. And Many Deaths Go Unreported.(link is external)

CNN | Federal Database Undercounts Deaths Caused By Police, According To Researchers(link is external)

MSNBC | Medical Examiners Have Undercounted Thousands Of Police Killings, Study Finds(link is external) 

The Hill | Bombshell Report Says Over 50% Of Police Killings Are Not Reported Or Wrongly Classified(link is external)

Axios | Study: Police Killings Are Mislabeled In Federal Data By More Than 55%(link is external)

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