Why do police killings of African Americans get disproportionate news coverage?

[Absolution9]

If you were to watch only CNN/MSNBC/Fox/nightly news or read publications like the NYT it would appear that over 75% (more like 95%) of all people killed by police were African American.

I was a bit surprised that Wapo had compiled a database of police shootings from 2015-2017(so far).  According to their stats roughly 24% of all people killed by police in that time frame were African American.  This is still a 1.85:1 over representation with 13% of the population being black during that period.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings-2016/

Due to historical factors African American communities have much higher crime rates (especially violent crime) in aggregate than communities of virtually any other racial/ethnic group.  For instance, this DOJ report on homicide released in 2011 encapsulating the years 1980-2008 shows a bit over 50% of homicide offenders were African American:
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf

Given the much higher crime rates in black communities, on average, it doesn't seem surprising that we have a relatively small (1:85:1) over-representation of African Americans in police killings.  It's also important to remember that roughly 97.5% of African American homicide victims in a given year were not killed by police.

So why does the media make it seem like the percentage is so much higher without giving any context?

P.S. I condemn all unjustified homicides committed by police officers or any other member of the public.

[pbrower2a]

I suspect that white police have much less competence in dealing with black suspects.

[Bismarck]

It fits a narrative. It helps the democrats divide people into groups.

[Absolution9]

It fits a narrative. It helps the democrats divide people into groups.

It just amazes me how many people fall for this narrative, even very intelligent people.  I had a discussion with several co-workers (one lawyer, the other a data analyst) who literally thought that the overwhelming majority of people killed by policy were African American.

[Don Vito Corleone]

Because when an unarmed person who is not black is shot, nobody says the police were right to kill them because they were rude or because they swore a lot.

[Absolution9]

I suspect that white police have much less competence in dealing with black suspects.

That maybe true from a cultural perspective but the statistics show that black police officers are no less likely to kill African Americans than white police officers.  Several of the high profile shootings recently (Charlotte, Milwaukee) involved black police officers.

[Absolution9]

Because when an unarmed person who is not black is shot, nobody says the police were right to kill them because they were rude or because they swore a lot.

No one talks about them at all since the media very rarely makes a deal out of it.  The only one I can remember in the past 3 years is the Australian woman in Minnesota.

Also no sane person is arguing that they deserved it because they were rude.  People say in some of the cases there were circumstances that partially justified the action (e.g. Mike Brown robbing a convenience store and physically attacking a police officer, many other cases of resisting arrest/not following police officer instructions). 

Of course in many situations the act was totally unjustified, but if you read through the Wapo incident descriptions that's true for whites/Hispanics, not just blacks. 

[Confused Democrat]

It fits a narrative. It helps the democrats divide people into groups.

It just amazes me how many people fall for this narrative, even very intelligent people.  I had a discussion with several co-workers (one lawyer, the other a data analyst) who literally thought that the overwhelming majority of people killed by policy were African American.

Yes, it's factually correct that more white people are killed by the police in the United States, but that's a dubious statistic unless you first adjust for population.

If you adjust for population first, black Americans are 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers.

[Absolution9]

It fits a narrative. It helps the democrats divide people into groups.

It just amazes me how many people fall for this narrative, even very intelligent people.  I had a discussion with several co-workers (one lawyer, the other a data analyst) who literally thought that the overwhelming majority of people killed by policy were African American.

Yes, it's factually correct that more white people are killed by the police in the United States, but that's a dubious statistic unless you first adjust for population.

If you adjust for population first, black Americans are 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers.

Uh, I discussed this in detail in my original post.  The stats I linked to indicate that they are 85% more likely to be killed by police than their portion of the population (not 150% as you say).  

Also there are confounding circumstances as I discussed, African American communities have far higher rates of crime and violence (over 50% of all homicides are committed by African Americans) on average so you would expect more African Americans to be killed by police if only for that reason.

Also I acknowledge that there may be historical/cultural reasons (economic/physical oppression and resultant cultural pathologies) for the high rate of violence/crime in AA communities.

[Confused Democrat]

It fits a narrative. It helps the democrats divide people into groups.

It just amazes me how many people fall for this narrative, even very intelligent people.  I had a discussion with several co-workers (one lawyer, the other a data analyst) who literally thought that the overwhelming majority of people killed by policy were African American.

Yes, it's factually correct that more white people are killed by the police in the United States, but that's a dubious statistic unless you first adjust for population.

If you adjust for population first, black Americans are 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers.

Uh, I discussed this in detail in my original post.  The stats I linked to indicate that they are 85% more likely to be killed by police than their portion of the population (not 150% as you say).  

Also there are confounding circumstances as I discussed, African American communities have far higher rates of crime and violence (over 50% of all homicides are committed by African Americans) on average so you would expect more African Americans to be killed by police if only for that reason.

Also I acknowledge that there may be historical/cultural reasons (economic/physical oppression and resultant cultural pathologies) for the high rate of violence/crime in AA communities.

I believe I was pulling my numbers from the same WP study that you cited (your link is behind a paywall, so I couldn't view it). Here's where I got my information from:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/11/arent-more-white-people-than-black-people-killed-by-police-yes-but-no/?utm_term=.df5da70c460d

As for your other point about the African American community's higher rates of crime and violence being the reason  for more African Americans being killed by police. The WP article points to studies that say there is no correlation between violent crime and who is killed by police officers.

Also, I believe those FBI numbers that you cited only account for arrests and not convictions, which pokes some holes in your argument.

[Absolution9]

It fits a narrative. It helps the democrats divide people into groups.

It just amazes me how many people fall for this narrative, even very intelligent people.  I had a discussion with several co-workers (one lawyer, the other a data analyst) who literally thought that the overwhelming majority of people killed by policy were African American.

Yes, it's factually correct that more white people are killed by the police in the United States, but that's a dubious statistic unless you first adjust for population.

If you adjust for population first, black Americans are 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers.

Uh, I discussed this in detail in my original post.  The stats I linked to indicate that they are 85% more likely to be killed by police than their portion of the population (not 150% as you say).  

Also there are confounding circumstances as I discussed, African American communities have far higher rates of crime and violence (over 50% of all homicides are committed by African Americans) on average so you would expect more African Americans to be killed by police if only for that reason.

Also I acknowledge that there may be historical/cultural reasons (economic/physical oppression and resultant cultural pathologies) for the high rate of violence/crime in AA communities.

I believe I was pulling my numbers from the same WP study that you cited (your link is behind a paywall, so I couldn't view it). Here's where I got my information from:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/11/arent-more-white-people-than-black-people-killed-by-police-yes-but-no/?utm_term=.df5da70c460d

As for your other point about the African American community's higher rates of crime and violence being the reason  for more African Americans being killed by police. The WP article points to studies that say there is no correlation between violent crime and who is killed by police officers.

Also, I believe those FBI numbers that you cited only account for arrests and not convictions, which pokes some holes in your argument.

The article you cite from wapo is behind a paywall for me now (probably used up my 10 free articles or something).  The source I cited from wapo (not an article exactly more of an interactive report) actually shows the total number of victims of police killings in 2015/2016/2017 and then breaks it down by race and other demographic indicators, it also includes a brief description of each of the 950-1000 killings per year.  No clue why there is a discrepancy between the two as yours would seem to indicate blacks make up 32% of the victims while mine indicates 24%.

The second point seems false to me:

One the DOJ study also breaks down stats on the percentages of victims of homicide which are not far off from the perpetrator figures.  Unless you are arguing that whites/hispanics murder a substantially higher number of African Americans than the other way around (stats indicate the opposite although the overwhelming majority of murders are same race) it would seem to confirm the homicide perpetrator numbers as reasonably accurate.

Second its strange to claim that being shot by police and violent crime in a community are not correlated when most of the media profiled shootings were taking place in areas with high crime rates and in many cases occurred shortly after a crime/during a situation were a suspect is resisting arrest.

Some of the highest profile cases have been in Baltimore, south Chicago, Baton Rouge, Ferguson, St Louis, Milwaukee, Charlotte.  All have substantially higher crime rates than the national average.  A far smaller number have been in lower crime areas.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Controversey sells. The media wants us to be angry, so thay we read/watch their garbage.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Longstanding trust issues that blacks have with the police, for historical as well as contemporary reasons, as well as greater solidarity among blacks than among whites or America at large, means that blacks protest when this happens.  When a cop kills a white person, it isn't as often seen by other whites as feeding into a broader indictment of relations between cops and the community at large.

[Virginiá]

Longstanding trust issues that blacks have with the police, for historical as well as contemporary reasons, as well as greater solidarity among blacks than among whites or America at large, means that blacks protest when this happens.  When a cop kills a white person, it isn't as often seen by other whites as feeding into a broader indictment of relations between cops and the community at large.

That seems about right.

-

I mean, let's be honest, our criminal justice system is really too biased towards police when it comes to misconduct. The system simply does not adequately punish police officers who step out of bounds (to put it lightly), and ironically it's hurting police more than it helps. They need to be trusted by the communities in which they serve, or else this idea really doesn't work.

At least some light is being shined on this issue.

[Beet]

It fits a narrative. It helps the democrats divide people into groups.

Democrats don't benefit from the population being divided in a way that pits 87% of people (who are not black) against them.

Many things have come out of BLM, but benefiting the Democratic party certainly hasn't been one of them. If anything, the opposite.

[Nyvin]

If you were to watch only CNN/MSNBC/Fox/nightly news or read publications like the NYT it would appear that over 75% (more like 95%) of all people killed by police were African American.

I was a bit surprised that Wapo had compiled a database of police shootings from 2015-2017(so far).  According to their stats roughly 24% of all people killed by police in that time frame were African American.  This is still a 1.85:1 over representation with 13% of the population being black during that period.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings-2016/

Due to historical factors African American communities have much higher crime rates (especially violent crime) in aggregate than communities of virtually any other racial/ethnic group.  For instance, this DOJ report on homicide released in 2011 encapsulating the years 1980-2008 shows a bit over 50% of homicide offenders were African American:
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf

Given the much higher crime rates in black communities, on average, it doesn't seem surprising that we have a relatively small (1:85:1) over-representation of African Americans in police killings.  It's also important to remember that roughly 97.5% of African American homicide victims in a given year were not killed by police.

So why does the media make it seem like the percentage is so much higher without giving any context?

P.S. I condemn all unjustified homicides committed by police officers or any other member of the public.

There are giant holes in your argument.   For one thing not all police killings are documented so we have no real idea how many Blacks/Whites are really killed by police.   

Another huge problem with what you're saying is that blacks are "charged" with more crimes than white people simply because they're black...and this is part of the systemic racism they face from "certain groups" in society.

Finally....no one in their right mind ever thought that a group that makes up 13% of the population makes up the "Vast majority" of people killed by police, that would be mathematically ludicrous.   You're the one creating conspiracies now.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

It turns out that cops are less racist than the death penalty.

[Coraxion]

People like you are part of the reason why.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

Two reasons:

-It's a serious problem that deserves attention
-Racism gets views

[Badger]

Serious questioning of your use of the term disproportionate

[Gustaf]

It fits a narrative. It helps the democrats divide people into groups.

It just amazes me how many people fall for this narrative, even very intelligent people.  I had a discussion with several co-workers (one lawyer, the other a data analyst) who literally thought that the overwhelming majority of people killed by policy were African American.

Yes, it's factually correct that more white people are killed by the police in the United States, but that's a dubious statistic unless you first adjust for population.

If you adjust for population first, black Americans are 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers.

Uh, I discussed this in detail in my original post.  The stats I linked to indicate that they are 85% more likely to be killed by police than their portion of the population (not 150% as you say).  

Also there are confounding circumstances as I discussed, African American communities have far higher rates of crime and violence (over 50% of all homicides are committed by African Americans) on average so you would expect more African Americans to be killed by police if only for that reason.

Also I acknowledge that there may be historical/cultural reasons (economic/physical oppression and resultant cultural pathologies) for the high rate of violence/crime in AA communities.

Just as a mathematical note, if the black share of police shootings is 85% higher than their population share and the white share is something like 20% lower than their population share, it means black people are about 2.5 times more likely to get shot than white people.

[Absolution9]

It fits a narrative. It helps the democrats divide people into groups.

It just amazes me how many people fall for this narrative, even very intelligent people.  I had a discussion with several co-workers (one lawyer, the other a data analyst) who literally thought that the overwhelming majority of people killed by policy were African American.

Yes, it's factually correct that more white people are killed by the police in the United States, but that's a dubious statistic unless you first adjust for population.

If you adjust for population first, black Americans are 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers.

Uh, I discussed this in detail in my original post.  The stats I linked to indicate that they are 85% more likely to be killed by police than their portion of the population (not 150% as you say).  

Also there are confounding circumstances as I discussed, African American communities have far higher rates of crime and violence (over 50% of all homicides are committed by African Americans) on average so you would expect more African Americans to be killed by police if only for that reason.

Also I acknowledge that there may be historical/cultural reasons (economic/physical oppression and resultant cultural pathologies) for the high rate of violence/crime in AA communities.

Just as a mathematical note, if the black share of police shootings is 85% higher than their population share and the white share is something like 20% lower than their population share, it means black people are about 2.5 times more likely to get shot than white people.

Yeah, you are right about that.  The white share is roughly 20% below their population based expectations. 

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Controversey sells. The media wants us to be angry, so thay we read/watch their garbage.

So racial bias among the police isn't a legitimate issue?

[dead0man]

Controversey sells. The media wants us to be angry, so thay we read/watch their garbage.

So racial bias among the police isn't a legitimate issue?

that wasn't the question....was it?  <looks>  ...nope, that certainly wasn't the question.

[All Along The Watchtower]

...They don't?