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Police use of deadly force in the United States

Updated: 11/6/2025, 12:22:49 AM Wikipedia source

In the United States, use of deadly force by police has been a high-profile and contentious issue. In 2022, 1,096 people were killed by police shootings according to The Washington Post, while according to the "Mapping Police Violence" (MPV) project, 1,176 people were killed by police in total. MPV documented 1,213 killings by police for 2023. A lack of reliable data has made conclusions about race and policing difficult. Several non-government and crowdsourcing projects have been started to address this lack of reliable data. Research has provided mixed results on the extent of racial bias in the police use of deadly force, with some studies finding no racial bias, while other studies conclude there is racial bias in the use of deadly force. A study by Esposito, Lee, Edwards estimated that 1 in 2,000 men and 1 in 33,000 women have a lifetime risk of dying as a result of police use of deadly force, with the highest risk for black men, at approximately 1 in 1,000. Black, Hispanic, and Native American/Alaskan individuals are disproportionately killed in police shootings compared to White or Asian individuals.

Tables

Firearm deaths and fatal police shootings by race (for year 2019)[53] · Racial patterns › Civilian characteristics
Population
Population
Col 1
Population
White
255,040,203
Black
46,599,393
Asian
21,814,724
Indigenous
4,785,203
% of total
% of total
Col 1
% of total
White
77.7%
Black
14.2%
Asian
6.6%
Indigenous
1.5%
All firearm deaths
All firearm deaths
Col 1
All firearm deaths
White
28,041
Black
10,555
Asian
679
Indigenous
432
% of total
% of total
Col 1
% of total
White
70.6%
Black
26.6%
Asian
1.7%
Indigenous
1.1%
Fatally shot by police
Fatally shot by police
Col 1
Fatally shot by police
White
355
Black
122
Asian
23
Indigenous
20
% of total
% of total
Col 1
% of total
White
68.3%
Black
23.5%
Asian
4.4%
Indigenous
3.8%
White
Black
Asian
Indigenous
Population
255,040,203
46,599,393
21,814,724
4,785,203
% of total
77.7%
14.2%
6.6%
1.5%
All firearm deaths
28,041
10,555
679
432
% of total
70.6%
26.6%
1.7%
1.1%
Fatally shot by police
355
122
23
20
% of total
68.3%
23.5%
4.4%
3.8%

References

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