A rather shocking study published this month by the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, names police officers as the sixth leading cause of death among young men. Police killings were only preceded in frequency by accidental death, a category that includes drug overdoses and car accidents, at 76.6 deaths per 100,000, followed by suicide (26.7), other homicides (22.0), heart disease (7.0), and cancer (6.3). These killings by police include shooting, choking, beating, and various other ways police have taken the lives of Americans.
“Police violence is a leading cause of death for young men in the United States,” the study explains. “Over the life course, about 1 in every 1,000 black men can expect to be killed by police. Risk of being killed by police peaks between the ages of 20 y and 35 y for men and women and for all racial and ethnic groups. Black women and men and American Indian and Alaska Native women and men are significantly more likely than white women and men to be killed by police. Latino men are also more likely to be killed by police than are white men.”
Even more damning than finding out that police are a leading cause of death for young men is the fact that the lead researcher of the study, and an assistant professor at the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, Frank Edwards says the numbers “may be an undercount.”
“Police departments have very little incentive to record the number of deaths, nor are they mandated to do so,” Edwards said.
Since 2015, independent outlets have stepped up and conducted counts of their own because the police will not do it. What these counts show is that since 2015, police in America have claimed the lives of 4,514 citizens.
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https://thefreethoughtproject.com/st...g-cause-death/
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