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Thursday, November 26th, 2015

It’s not just racism: Why do American cops kill so many people compared to European cops?

Author:    
Source:     The Raw Story/The Conversation
Publication Date:     25 Nov 2015 at 06:22 ET
 Link: It’s not just racism: Why do American cops kill so many people compared to European cops?
Stephan:   Here is a much needed article addressing what I think is a critical question. Why do American police kill so many more people than any other police force in the world? This article isn't the total answer, but it is a start.
Officer Daniel Aguirre shoots robbery suspect Aubrey Williams Credit: AL.com

Officer Daniel Aguirre shoots robbery suspect Aubrey Williams
Credit: AL.com

Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with first degree murder Oct. 24 in the death of Laquan McDonald. A video released by police shows Van Dyke shooting the teenager 16 times.

Van Dyke is an extreme example of a pattern of unnecessary deadly force used by US police. American police kill a few people each day, making them far more deadly than police in Europe.

Historic rates of fatal police shootings in Europe suggest that American police in 2014 were 18 times more lethal than Danish police and 100 times more lethal than Finnish police, plus they killed significantly more frequently than police in France, Sweden and other European countries. (emphasis added)

As a scholar of sociology and criminal justice, I recently set out to understand why rates of police lethality in the US are so much higher than rates in Europe.

More guns and aggression

Such massive disparities defy a simple explanation, […]

Read the Full Article

1 Comment

  1. Rev. Dean on Thursday, November 26, 2015 at 8:11 am

    Violence is how we got here in Northern America and violent is how we have stayed. It really disgusts me, to see the rest of the world be more peaceful than the U.S.A.