A Look at the Numbers
Since the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, news coverage of officer-involved shootings has raised questions about racial bias in officer-civilian interactions and particularly in shootings involving unarmed civilians. On the other side of the issue, questions have also been raised about possible racial motivations behind civilian attacks on police, such as the deadly attack in Dallas in July 2016, when a black man named Micah Johnson killed five officers and injured seven others, as well as two civilians, during a Black Lives Matter protest.
Two questions emerge from these and similar events:
(1) Is racial bias a common factor in officer-involved shootings?
...has an M.S. in chemistry from the University of Texas at Dallas, and an M.A. in bioethics from Trinity International University. She resides in Dallas and currently works as a freelance science writer and educator.
Get Salvo in your inbox! This article originally appeared in Salvo, Issue #40, Spring 2017 Copyright © 2024 Salvo | www.salvomag.com https://salvomag.com/article/salvo40/police-shootings
