US police killed a record number of people in 2023 ( thehill.com )

  • In 2023, police in the U.S. Killed over 1,300 people, marking a steady increase in police killings, as reported by Mapping Police Violence.
  • There were only 14 days without a police killing, and on average, a person was killed by law enforcement every 6.6 hours.
  • While the number of people killed by gunfire and officers killed in the line of duty declined, this data highlights the need for significant changes in policing in the country.
breadsmasher ,
@breadsmasher@lemmy.world avatar

Heres some data for the UK to compare.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/319287/deaths-during-or-following-police-contact-causes-england-and-wales/

America has some serious problems


| Characteristic | Road traffic fatalities | Fatal shootings | Deaths in or following police custody | Apparent suicides following custody | Other deaths during or following police contact\* |
| -------------- | ----------------------- | --------------- | ------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| 2010/11        | 26                      | 2               | 21                                    | 46                                  | 57                                                |
| 2011/12        | 19                      | 2               | 15                                    | 39                                  | 47                                                |
| 2012/13        | 31                      | 0               | 15                                    | 65                                  | 22                                                |
| 2013/14        | 12                      | 0               | 11                                    | 70                                  | 44                                                |
| 2014/15        | 14                      | 1               | 18                                    | 71                                  | 43                                                |
| 2015/16        | 21                      | 3               | 14                                    | 61                                  | 106                                               |
| 2016/17        | 32                      | 6               | 14                                    | 56                                  | 131                                               |
| 2017/18        | 29                      | 4               | 23                                    | 57                                  | 177                                               |
| 2018/19        | 42                      | 3               | 17                                    | 63                                  | 156                                               |
| 2019/20        | 24                      | 3               | 18                                    | 54                                  | 107                                               |
| 2020/21        | 25                      | 1               | 19                                    | 54                                  | 92                                                |
| 2021/22        | 40                      | 2               | 11                                    | 57                                  | 111                                               |
| 2022/23        | 28                      | 3               | 23                                    | 52                                  | 90                                                |
Omegamanthethird ,
@Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world avatar

So, if I'm reading this right, the US had 6.6 times more fatalities by police (1,300 vs 196), with only 5 times more population (332 million vs 67 million).

Population equalized, 1,300 US vs 980 UK. Unless I'm reading this wrong.

breadsmasher ,
@breadsmasher@lemmy.world avatar

I don’t have the info to clarify this either way, but the data Ive shared isn’t only “directly killed by police action” but includes suicide and other deaths related to police contact but not necessarily directly caused by police

e. interpreting the US statistics as “directly killed by police, with their hands” then I would count only “fatal shootings” and possibly “deaths in and following police custody”.

Here’s another slice of UK people killed by shootings https://www.statista.com/statistics/319246/police-fatal-shootings-england-wales/

2023 there were 3 police shootings resulting in death

In USA there were 1153 fatal shootings by police

https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/

Omegamanthethird ,
@Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world avatar

There's an "other" category for the UK link. Since "in police custody" seems to be for unattributed deaths, I'm assuming "other" is for attributed murder that isn't shootings.

Magikjak ,

This source is including many more causes of death not included in the US number. The average annual direct killings by the US police is 1096 (33.1 per 10 million), while the UK is 3 (0.5 per 10 million), about 66 times worse per capita.

Omegamanthethird ,
@Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world avatar

It seems like that's just shootings. I'm really curious what the "other" category is for the UK. That seems like that might be direct killings that aren't shootings. That would inflate the number to 93.

But even if all of the others are murders (since unattributed deaths in custody is its own category), that would still make the US police 3 times as likely to murder you.

Reverendender ,
@Reverendender@sh.itjust.works avatar

We broke the record!! USA!!! USA!!!

(I am crying in the inside)

rivermonster OP ,

I feel you, and don't have a good coping mechanism for this one, plus it's hard as shit to not have an emotional take on it, hence the difference of the title in my community. https://lemmy.world/post/10842873

Reverendender ,
@Reverendender@sh.itjust.works avatar

I’m sure it would be terribly difficult, but my first thought is that we need federal oversight of law enforcement.

rivermonster OP ,

Even legitimately tracking law enforcement federally is difficult and half ass'd, and always opposed by some of the worst criminals in our country the Police Unions (they misspell "organized crime ring" as "union"). There's always bullshit like "voluntary compliance", and failure to follow up on no compliance at all, it's god-damed ridiculous.

rivermonster OP ,

Also this:

https://archive.ph/Oy144

Reverendender ,
@Reverendender@sh.itjust.works avatar

This is like asking the oil companies to pinky swear they are doing right by the environment.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

The nation's legal street gang.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod ,
@Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social avatar

USA! USA! USA!

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