Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the Use of Lethal Force by US Police, 2010-2014

Objectives. To update previous examinations of racial/ethnic disparities in the use of lethal force by US police. Methods. I examined online national vital statistics data for deaths assigned an underlying cause of "legal intervention" (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, external-cause-of-injury codes Y35.0-Y35.7, excluding Y35.5 [legal execution]) for the 5-year period 2010 to 2014. Results. Death certificates identified 2285 legal intervention deaths (1.5 per million population per year) from 2010 to 2014. Among males aged 10 years or older, who represented 96% of these deaths, the mortality rate among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic individuals was 2.8 and 1.7 times higher, respectively, than that among White individuals. Conclusions. Substantial racial/ethnic disparities in legal intervention deaths remain an ongoing problem in the United States.