[TroyF]

Originally Posted by AlexB

I was looking for an answer to this myself this morning, and looked at three reports (two on sites I respect, one I'd not heard of before) each with different opinions. Two were published in 2014, but overall based on this snap-check the balance is that yes, it likely is a fact.

FactCheck: do black Americans commit more crime?

Grossly misleading claims about black teens being "vastly more likely to be killed by police than whites even after adjusting for crime rates" - Crime Prevention Research CenterCrime Prevention Research Center

study-supports-suspicion-that-police-use-of-force-is-more-likely-for-blacks - The New York Times

I've read all of those studies before, but the question I have really concerns the last study.

Force is more likely for blacks. What LED to the force? How many of those incidents of force were created by not following police instructions.

We have 1,000 interactions with the police (forget the rate at how many times they have to deal with the police, that is not my question here. Equate the sample size. 1,000 interactions for whites, 1,000 interactions for blacks) How many times does each side comply with instructions. In the cases where they don't, what is the rate of force used? Gunshots, tasers, etc.

Please note to everyone who is going to think I'm racist for asking this: I think there is a very different way all of us look at police officers and it impacts our interactions with them. This is ONE SINGLE part of this overall debate, but it could help us understand why things are the way they are a little bit better.