Placing police shootings in context and implications for evidence based policy: an exploration and descriptive analysis of these incidents in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia from 1990–2010

ABSTRACT

Because little traditional data is available on police shootings, this study utilized a content analysis of newspaper stories to examine the frequency, nature and context of police shootings in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia over 20 years. Findings indicate a high rate of both fatalities and non-lethal shootings. Scholars and practitioners have long noted that what is unknown about police shootings outweighs what is known, a knowledge gap that demands attention in the current landscape of criminal justice in the United States. There has been a body of research has developed around the use of deadly force; however, little data is available and accessible at the state and municipal level, which impedes the development of evidence based policy. This absence of data to inform policy suggests that existing policies likely are not fully and most efficiently addressing the best interests of the multiple parties involved in single incidents.

KEYWORDS:

• Police
• police shootings
• officer-involved shootings
• use of deadly force
• evidence based policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amanda L. Farrell

Amanda L. Farrell is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. She received her Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. With practitioners at the center of her work, her research and teaching interests include homicide, criminal investigations, field forensics, drug policy and its implications, and policing in general, with her dissertation and other recent work seeking to holistically explore police use of deadly force incidents and the multiple individuals impacted by a single deadly force encounter. Her work has been published in International Criminal Justice Review, Homicide Studies and in the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling.

Elizabeth Monk-Turner

Elizabeth Monk-Turner is Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Old Dominion University. She received her Ph.D. from Brandeis University. Her work appears in the American Sociological Review, Feminist Economics, Gender Studies, Social Indicators Research, Justice Quarterly and many others. Recent research focuses on prostitution and sex work in Thailand, subjective wellbeing, especially in unique populations, and socioeconomic consequences of first entering a community college.