Federal Deaths in Custody and During Arrest, 2020 – Statistical Tables

• NCJ Number: 304939
• Date Published: July 2022
• Author(s): Connor Brooks; Sean E. Goodison
• Length: 12 pages
• Agencies: BJS
• Publication Type: Publication; Statistics

Abstract

This report presents statistics on deaths that occur during federal arrest, detention, and incarceration in the United States. It is the third in a series in response to the Death in Custody Reporting Act (DICRA) of 2013 (P.L. 113–242) that requires federal law enforcement agencies to report information about the death of any person who dies while detained, under arrest, being arrested, or in the custody of federal law enforcement officers. The report describes decedent, incident, and facility characteristics of deaths in federal custody and during arrest by federal law enforcement agencies during fiscal year 2020.

Highlights:

• Federal law enforcement agencies reported 65 arrest-related deaths and 614 deaths in custody in fiscal year (FY) 2020.
• Homicides accounted for 47% of the 65 arrest-related deaths in FY 2020, suicides accounted for 26%, and deaths from natural causes or accidents each accounted for 13%.
• In FY 2020, about 89% of decedents in arrest-related deaths were male, 69% were white, and 62% were ages 25 to 44.
• In 60% of arrest-related deaths in FY 2020, law enforcement was serving a warrant when they made initial contact with the decedent.