Law Enforcement - Police Shootings

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the killing of a felon is considered justified when it is done to "prevent the imminent death or serious bodily injury to the officer or another person."⁵

More than 7,000 felons were killed by police in justifiable homicides from 1980 to 1998. The rate fell from 2.49 per 100,000 people in 1980 (when 457 felons were killed) to 1.69 people in 1998 (when 367 felons were killed). These felons were almost always men. For the period shown, men have consistently made up at least 95% of such homicides. In 1998, the most recent year for statistics, 97.5% of felons killed were men and 2.5% were women.

These felons are usually white as well. At least half of the felons killed by police over the two decades shown have been white. The percent of felons that were African-Americans fell from a high of 48% in 1980 to 35% in 1998. Those of other races represent 2-3% of felons killed by police. The racial distribution of felons is shown for selected years in the chart below.

Justifiable Homicides: The Race of Felons Killed by Police

	1980	1985	1990	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
White	51	61	62	55	57	59	61	63	62
Black	48	35	36	42	40	38	37	35	35
Other	1	4	2	3	3	3	2	2	3

What of police killed by felons? About 1,400 police officers were killed by felons. The rate fell from 26.44 to 9.51 per 100,000 sworn officers from 1980 to 1998. It is important to note that this rate is far higher than the rate for police shootings of felons.

Roughly 85% of officers killed during this period were white. As more African Americans join the force, they will potentially represent a growing share of police officer deaths. In 1998, 9% of police officer deaths were blacks. Just two years later, they represented 18.5% of officer deaths. Through the early 1990s they represented 15-16% of deaths. In 1998, 86.9% of officers killed by felons were white, 11.5% were black and 1.2% were of other races.

The current rate of justifiable homicides and police killings has been dramatically reduced over the rate of the 1980s. Crime overall is down, of course; this is a major factor. As well, training has improved in many departments — both training on dealing with suspects and on gun use.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Policing and Homicide, 1976-1998: Justifiable Homicides by Police, Police Officers Murdered by Felons, Series NCJ 180987, March 2001.