July 21, 2015

Raw Data: How Many Unarmed Victims Do Police Shoot Each Year?

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Via Bob Somerby, here’s some raw data from the Washington Post’s ongoing analysis of police shootings in America:

According to the Post, about 16 percent of the victims weren’t carrying a deadly weapon at the time they were killed. That breaks down like this:

  • 26 blacks out of 132, or about 20 percent.
  • 35 whites out of 253, or about 14 percent.
  • 17 Hispanics out of 83, or about 20 percent.

These percentages are roughly similar across races, but don’t account for total population. When you account for that, unarmed blacks are killed at about 4x the rate of whites and 2x the rate of Hispanics.

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