U.S. Police Are Killing Men

The United States is going through an analysis of the possible causes of police departments disproportionately killing Black people and considering methods of dealing with the situation. It is certainly past time to consider the reasons that police are killing men at a significantly more disproportionate rate than women.

According to Statista, police killed about twice the number of White people than Black people between 2017 and 2020. However, accounting for the fact that there are 5.7 times the number of Whites (76.5% of population) than Blacks (13.4% of population), the adjusted ratio implies that an average Black person is three times more likely to by shot by a cop than a White person.

Exhibit 1: People Shot to Death by Police, by Race

Year	White	Black	W/B Multiple	B/W Adj Multiple
2017	457	223	2.0x	2.8x
2018	399	209	1.9x	3.0x
2019	370	235	1.6x	3.6x
2020 YTD	172	88	2.0x	2.9x

The numbers for police killings are much worse when examining the numbers by gender. There are slightly more women (50.8%) than men in the United States. However, men are almost exclusively shot to death by police according to data by Statista.

Exhibit 2: People Shot to Death by Police, by Gender

Year	Men	Women	M/W Multiple	M/W Adj Multiple
2017	940	45	20.9x	21.6x
2018	942	53	17.8x	18.4x
2019	961	43	22.3x	23.1x
2020	415	13	31.9x	33.0x

An average male is 33 times more likely to be shot and killed by a police officer than an average woman, while an average Black person is three times more likely to be killed than an average White person. As society examines how to reduce the disproportionate killing of Black people, we must no longer be blind and silent to the catastrophe impacting men in this country.

An image taken from video shows Walter Scott shortly before he was shot dead by North Charleston, S.C., Police Officer Michael Slager in 2015.(Associated Press )