Estimating the determinants of arrest-related deaths at the state level

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the present study is to ascertain the determinants of arrest-related deaths (ARDs) at the state level. ARDs are civilian deaths that occurred during or shortly after an arrest or detention by state or local law enforcement. These deaths may be attributed to a variety of factors, including use of force by police, injuries sustained when attempting to elude police, self-inflicted injuries and medical conditions. Using data compiled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics for the period 2003–2009 and employing a Poisson regression model, the results of the present study suggest that race is not statistically related to ARDs. Hence, the percentage of a state’s population that is African-American has no effect on ARDs. The factors found to be most significantly related to ARDs include the gun-related murder rate, the percentage of the state population that is under the age of 35, population density and police per capita. All were found to be positively related to ARDs. This study is one of the first studies that examines the determinants of state-level ARDs, and this study is one of the few studies on ARDs that finds that race is not a factor in ARDs

KEYWORDS:

• Arrest-related deaths
• race
• state level

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• K14
• I12

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.