Police are still killing Black people at disproportionate rates

On May 25, George Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. The incident sparked international protests against racism and police brutality. But in the wake of this mass call for change, police are still killing Black men and women at disproportionate rates.

Over the following three months, from May 26 to August 31, police in the U.S. killed 288 people, according to data from both The Washington Post and Mapping Police Violence, two organizations that have kept comprehensive lists of people who have been killed by police. Of the 288 people listed by either the Post or Mapping Police Violence’s database, 59 were Black, 102 were White, 42 were Hispanic or Latino, five were Asian, two were Native American, and the race of 78 people was unknown.

Black people make up roughly 13.4% of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — but they accounted for about 20% of people killed by police during that time period.

To count those killed by police, Mapping Police Violence draws from police shooting databases, obituaries, criminal record databases, police reports, and other sources. It includes people who died “as a result of being shot, beaten, restrained, intentionally hit by a police vehicle, pepper sprayed, tasered, or otherwise harmed by police officers, whether on-duty or off-duty.” The Washington Post’s log includes every person who has been fatally shot by a police officer.

In the three months since Floyd’s death, the racial disparity in police killings has increased slightly. The data shows that from January 1 to May 25 of this year, Black people were approximately 3 times more likely than White people to be killed by police; from May 26 to August 31, they were about 3.3 times more likely.

For years, data has shown that Black people are far more likely to be killed by police than people of other races.

Police have killed more people in the first half of 2020 than in the first half of each of the previous four years, according to Mapping Police Violence, despite more people staying home because of the coronavirus pandemic. From January 1 to August 31 of this year, Mapping Police Violence and the Post identified 771 people who were killed by police, 164 of whom — roughly 21% — were Black.

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Black men and women are often killed at younger ages than people of other races, according to the data. The average age of Black people killed by police in 2020 is roughly seven years younger than the average age of those who are White, according to the data. Out of the 38 teenagers and young adults who were under the age of 21 when they were killed by police this year, just under half were Black.

A widely-cited 2019 study published in scientific journal The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences declared that police violence is a leading cause of death among young men, especially those who are Black.

The study concluded that Black men “face an exceptionally high risk” of police killings, estimating that 1 out of every 1,000 Black males “can expect to be killed by police” — twice the risk faced by the general male population.

While far fewer Black women than men are killed by police, Black women are still 1.4 times more likely than White women to be killed by police, according to the study.

Deaths per million based on 735 cases of police killing individuals from January 1 to August 18, 2020, and 2019 U.S. census data.

Li Cohen

The data shows that Black people are disproportionately more likely to be killed by police whether or not they have a weapon. Of the 594 cases this year in which a person killed by police was allegedly armed, 241 were White and 115 were Black. About 80% of the White people killed by police were allegedly armed at the time of the incident, while about 70% of the Black people killed by police were allegedly armed. This indicates that police are more likely to kill Black people even when they are unarmed.

Cases in which the person killed was unarmed have a similar pattern. The data shows that of 69 cases in which a person was unarmed when they were killed, 26 were White and 21 were Black. When looking at total cases for the year by race, the data shows that White people killed by police were unarmed 8.7% of the time, while Black people killed by police were unarmed roughly 12.8% of the time.

These cases do not account for incidents in which it remains unclear if the person was armed or not, or if the person was marked as armed with a vehicle.

This data is based on reported and verified cases, and does not necessarily account for all incidents in which a person was killed by police. But based on the known cases, police have killed at least one Black person every week since January 1. Only two states — Rhode Island and Vermont — have reported no killings by police this year.

Below are the known names of the Black men and women who have been killed by police so far this year:

Dijon KizzeeMichael Anthony HarrisJulius Paye KehyeiDamian Lamar DanielsTrayford PellerinHasani BestAdrian Jason RobertsAnthony McClainKendrell Antron WatkinsRafael Jevon MinniefieldJonathan JeffersonSalaythis MelvinJulian Edward Roosevelt LewisAmir JohnsonAshton BroussardDarrien WalkerWinston Joseph Latour IIIDavid Earl BrooksJeremy SouthernVincent HarrisDarius WashingtonMalcolm ComeauxAntwane BurriseVincent Demario TruittKanavis Dujuan GlassHakim LittletonRichard Lewis PriceErroll JohnsonMalik CantyJoseph W. DentonWilliam Wade Burgess IIIKevan RuffinKy JohnsonAloysius Larue KeatonRasheed Mathew MoormanRobert D’Lon HarrisSkyleur YoungTerron Jammal BooneBrandon GardnerDonald WardCaine Van PeltRayshard BrooksMichael ThomasPhillip JacksonLewis Ruffin Jr.Kamal FlowersMalik Tyquan GravesDavid McAteeDerrick ThompsonMomodou Lamin SisayTerrell MitchellJarvis SullivanRuben Smith IIIModesto “Marrero Desto” ReyesTony McDadeGeorge FloydDion JohnsonMaurice S. GordonWillie Lee Quarles Sr.Terry J. CaverWilliam Johnson Jr.Tobby LaRon WigginsRobert Johnson Jr.Randy Roszell LewisRayshard ScalesDavid Tylek AtkinsonYassin MohamedAdrian MedearisMcHale RoseFinan H. BerheDreasjon “Sean DaDon” ReedQavon WebbJah’Sean Iandie HodgeDemontre BrunerSaid JoquinWilliam Lamont DeBoseBrent D’Andrew MartinMalcolm “Milky” Xavier Ray WilliamsShaun Lee FuhrJonas JosephKelvin D. ShawElmer L. MackJoshua JohnsonChase RosaVirgill ThorpeJoel AcevedoSteven Demarco TaylorDerick L. PoweJasman WashingtonGoldie BellingerJonathan Lee AdamsKanisha Necole FullerDesmond FranklinJoshua Dariandre RuffinDewayne Curtis LafondIdris Abdus-SalaamTommie Dale McGlothen Jr.Nathan R. HodgeEtonne T. TanzymoreTyrell “Rex” FincherDaniel PrudeKamaal Koby EdwardsAlvin Lamont Baum IIMychael JohnsonHarold SpencerLebarron BallardWilliam Dion Tolbert SimpkinsDarwin “Darrin” Barnell FoyDarrell William Mobley Sr.Breonna TaylorDonnie SandersZachery Anderson Jr.Barry GedeusTyler M. JonesElijah Jamaal BrewerDevan Austin TwilleyManuel EllisAnthony TaylorDesmond HayesJustin Lee StackhouseKenneth Laneal SashingtonMatthew FelixJoseph C. Jewell IIIKevin AldopheBobby Joe GibbsJeremy GraysonDominque Antwon AndersonMarc Dominic NealAlvin ColeRonnell MouzonLeonard Charles Parker Jr.Abdirahman SaladKeith Dutree CollinsJaquyn O’Neill LightWilliam Howard Green Jr.D’ovion Semaj PerkinsJoshua James BrownMarquis GoldenDeandre Lee Seaborough-PattersonAndrew J. SmyrnaMichael J. RiveraReginald Leon Boston Jr.Darius J. TarverGamel Antonio BrownKelvin WhiteSamuel David MallardMubarak SoulemaneRenard Antonio DanielsAlbert Lee HughesKeenan McCainHenry Isaac JonesRyan SimmsEarl FaceyClaude Washington Fain IIIMiciah LeeKwame JonesBrandon Dionte RobertsTina Marie DavisTyree DavisJamarri Daiwon TarverIndividual’s name unknown — August 29Individual’s name unknown — August 7Individual’s name unknown — July 23Individual’s name unknown — July 7Individual’s name unknown — June 22