Graphs and data: Officer involved shootings
According to a study by ProPublica, young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white peers.
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1. American police shoot and kill far more people than their peers in other countries.
2. Black people are more likely to be shot by police than their white peers.
Black teens were 21 times as likely as white teens to be shot and killed by police between 2010 and 2012.
So far in 2016, there have been 217 documented killings of African-Americans by police officers in the United States, which is grossly disproportionate to police killings of any other race.
3. Studies show officers are quicker to use force to shoot black suspects.
Josh Correll, a University of Colorado Boulder psychology professor who conducted research, said it's possible the bias could lead to more skewed outcomes in the field.
"In the very situation in which (officers) most need their training," he said. "We have some reason to believe that their training will be most likely to fail them."
4. Law enforcement firearms deaths spiked 78 percent in the first half of 2016.
According to preliminary data compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, as of July 20, 2016, 67 federal, state and local law enforcement officers have died in the line of duty this year, increasing eight percent over the 62 officers killed in the same period last year.
5. There is no good data on how many people police officers kill each year.
The federal government tracks police shootings and killings through the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics's Arrest-Related Deaths (ARD), but both undercount the number of deaths to police.
6. Police can use deadly force if they merely perceive a threat.
The first circumstance is "to protect their life or the life of another innocent party" — what departments call the "defense-of-life" standard. The second circumstance is to prevent a suspect from escaping, but only if the officer has probable cause to think the suspect poses a dangerous threat to others.
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