Police Brutality in the U.S.
In the last decade, police brutality in the United States has become a highly talked about and controversial topic. While this problem is not new, it was once something typically swept under the rug. Sparked by the murder of George Floyd in 2020, #BlackLivesMatter has become a centerstage issue both in society and in politics. Opinions over this issue are heavily divided, particularly by party lines.
Statistics
Black men are 2.5 times more likely than White men to be killed by police in their lifetime (Edwards, Esposito, Lee).
Mass Incarceration
In the United States, prison statistics show that the overwhelming majority of those incarcerated are people of color. Prison, as an institution, is founded on structural racism. Within the prison system, we see the ghost of slavery haunting our society. Research has shown that neighborhoods with predominantly BIPOC populations have a heavier police presence, thereby creating a higher rate of reported crime (Davis).
This graph depicts the number of people incarcerated per 100,000 people in each racial or ethnic category. Incarceration rates of people of color are incredibly disproportionate. This is can also be seen by looking at the percentage of these persons in the total U.S. population versus the percentage of these persons in prison populations.
Image: Sawyer, Wendy. “US incarceration rates by race and ethnicity, 2010,” 2020, Prison Policy Initiative, https://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/raceinc.html. Retrieved from U.S. Incarceration Rates by Race database. Physical rights retained and permission granted from Prison Policy Initiative. Used under fair use.
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