Police Use of Nonfatal Force, 2002-2011

• NCJ Number: 249216
• Date Published: November 2015
• Author(s): Shelley Hyland; Lynn Langton; Elizabeth Davis
• Agencies: BJS
• Publication Series: BJS Special Reports
• Publication Type: Survey, Statistics, Report (Study/Research), Report (Annual/Periodic)

Annotation

Using data from the 2002, 2005, 2008, and 2011 Police-Public Contact Survey (PPCS) supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), this study examined the prevalence, circumstance, and characteristics of incidents of the police threat of or use of non-fatal force with survey respondents in their most recent contact with police and whether it varied across race and Hispanic origin.

Abstract

From 2002 to 2011, an annual average of 44 million persons age 16 or older had one or more face-to-face contacts with police. Of those who had contact with police, 1.6 percent experienced the threat or use of non-fatal force by the police during their most recent contact. Approximately 75 percent of those who experienced non-fatal force from police perceived it as excessive. Of those who experienced the use of non-fatal force by police, a greater percentage of non-Hispanic Blacks (2.8 percent) than non-Hispanic Whites (1.0 percent) and Hispanics (1.4 percent) perceived the force as excessive. Blacks (3.5 percent) were more likely than Whites (1.4 percent) and Hispanics (2.1 percent) to experience police non-fatal use of force. A greater percentage of persons who experienced the use of police non-fatal force (44 percent) had two or more contacts with police compared with those who did not experience such force (28 percent). Blacks (14 percent) were more likely than Hispanics (5.9 percent) and slightly more likely than Whites (6.9 percent) to experience non-fatal force during police street stops. Traffic stops that involved an officer and driver of different races were more likely to involve non-fatal force (2.0 percent) than traffic stops that involved an officer and driver of the same race (0.8 percent). Blacks (1.4 percent) were twice as likely as Whites (0.7 percent) to experience force during contacts that involved a personal search. 22 tables