Citation

Yu PT, Goodman LF, Riley JS, Giron A, Guner YS, Peranteau WH, Schomberg J. J. Am. Coll. Surg. 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, American College of Surgeons, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1097/XCS.0000000000000895

PMID

37861230

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Legal intervention trauma (LIT) is defined as injury due to any encounter with law enforcement. This study investigates associations between demographics, violent status, and law enforcement tactics among youth decedents of LIT. STUDY DESIGN: Decedents of LIT age ≤ 26 years were identified using the CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System from 2003-2018. Decedents were classified as "violent" if they possessed a weapon, were committing a violent crime, or if law enforcement reported justified use of force. All others were classified as "nonviolent." Law enforcement tactics were stratified into "lethal" (firearm with standard ammunition) or "less-lethal" (any other) force. Differences in the racial distribution across these classifications were assessed using chi-square tests of proportions.

RESULTS: We identified 1281 youth decedents of LIT. 92.5% met violent criteria. African Americans were less likely than Whites to possess a weapon (71.6% vs. 77.4%, p=0.02) and were not more likely to be committing a violent crime (63.6% vs. 60.4%, p=0.27). They were, however, more likely than Whites to experience force reported as justified by law enforcement (89.9% vs. 82.4%, p=0.002) and to experience exclusively lethal force not preceded by less-lethal tactics (94.0% vs. 88.7%, p=0.001). Among the subset of 85 cases where law enforcement reported justified use of force despite the decedent not possessing a weapon or committing a violent crime, the precipitating event was more often a traffic stop for African Americans than for Whites (28.5% vs. 6.66%, p=0.02).

CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate a racial disparity among youth decedents of LIT.

Keywords: Juvenile Justice

Language: en