[imagesource: Associated Press]
Not for the first time, America is being called to task over the brutality enacted by the country’s law enforcement.
The George Floyd protests that have rocked the world have forced the US to take a hard look at how law and order are supposedly maintained, at what cost, and to whose detriment.
Floyd is just one of the countless African Americans to die, unnecessarily, at the hands of US police officers over the years.
Despite obvious evidence to back this up (a quick Google search will supply you with a shocking and seemingly endless list of names), you’ll still find people on social media going on about how #AllLivesMatter.
CNN looked into the stats, and they reveal a horrifying look at where America is at right now.
Statistical comparisons show that police in the US typically shoot, arrest and imprison more people than similarly developed nations.
Each nation listed below either accompanies the US in the G7 group of the world’s most advanced economies, or is ranked similarly on global wealth, freedom and democracy indexes.
Economically, the countries represented in the infographics below might be similar, but when it comes to policing and criminal justice, the US is a stark outlier.
A media review by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) found a total of 1,348 potential arrest-related deaths in the ten months from June 2015 through March 2016 — an average of 135 deaths per month, or just over 4 per day.
American police are also more likely to shoot and kill suspects than law enforcement in similar countries.
Note that the Australian and UK figures represent financial years (July 1 – June 30 and April 1 – March 31 respectively):
If confronted or arrested by police, black people are more likely to be subjected to force. This is one of the key complaints that protesters are making around the world.
According to a 2016 study published in the American Journal of Health, black men are nearly three times more likely than white men to be killed by police intervention. Comparable figures for other countries are not readily available.
The infographic below illustrates this point:
America also has the largest prison population in the world:
In police custody, significantly more people are likely to die than in the UK or Australia.
Keep in mind that data on US deaths in custody was only available for the nine-month period between June 2015 and March 2016. The rate was estimated using the total arrests for 2015.
Australian and UK figures represent financial years (July 2015-June 2016 and April 2015 – March 2016, respectively):
Remove emotion from the equation, and look at the cold, hard stats, and the violent nature of America’s law enforcement is plain for all to see.
If you have 30 minutes to spare, we highly recommend watching John Oliver’s latest show on the issue of America’s police, and what can be done going forward.
Something needs to change and change now.
[source:cnn]
