Killed whilst under arrest, the figures show an alarming increase.
According to researcher Kenneth Jost, writing in the April 6, issue of CQ Researcher, from 2003 to 2009, killings of arrestees by police rose from 376 in 2003 to 497 in 2009.
killings of arrestees by police rose from 376 in 2003 to 497 in 2009.
Over the past year, Jost claims, the U.S. Department of Justice has been aggressively using its power to monitor local police departments and pressuring them to limit the use of excessive force in civilian encounters, eliminate racial profiling and strengthen disciplinary and accountability procedures.
eliminate racial profiling
"The Justice Department's oversight of local law enforcement lagged under President Bush," writes Jost. "Obama's selection of civil rights-minded officials for key posts at the Justice Department signaled a likely change in priorities."
Whilst we wait for confirmation that Obama's administration has made any difference to the killed-under-arrest incidences, we should point out the not-entirely-urelated fact that 27 percent more state excecutions took place in 2010 than in Bush-era 2008, suggesting that mere wooly-minded expectations of 'civil rights-minded officials' making a diference to those figures might be a touch sentimental.
We should also point out, for the sake of balance, that in 2011 alone, 173 US law enforcement officers were killed on duty.
Police or perp – let's be careful out there.
Sources:
SAGE Publications
http://www.albany.edu
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. – Aristotle
