@article{ref1,
title="Aggression, escalation, and other latent themes in legal intervention deaths of non-hispanic Black and White men: results from the 2003‒2017 National Violent Death Reporting System",
journal="American journal of public health",
year="2021",
author="Arseniev-Koehler, Alina and Foster, Jacob Gates and Mays, Vickie M. and Chang, Kai-Wei and Cochran, Susan D.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="OBJECTIVEs. To investigate racial/ethnic differences in legal intervention‒related deaths using state-of-the-art topic modeling of law enforcement and coroner text summaries drawn from the 2003-2017 US National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS).<br><br>METHODS. Employing advanced topic modeling, we identified 8 topics consistent with dangerousness in death incidents in the NVDRS death narratives written by public health workers (PHWs). Using logistic regression, we then evaluated racial/ethnic differences in PHW-coded variables and narrative topics among 4981 males killed by legal intervention, while adjusting for age, county-level characteristics, and year.<br><br>RESULTS. Black, as compared with White, decedents were younger and their deaths were less likely to include PHW-coded mental health or substance use histories, weapon use, or positive toxicology for alcohol or psychoactive drugs, but more likely to include &quot;gangs-as-an-incident-precipitant&quot; coding. Topic modeling revealed less frequent thematic representation of &quot;physical aggression&quot; or &quot;escalation&quot; but more of &quot;gangs or criminal networks&quot; among Black versus White decedents.<br><br>CONCLUSIONS. While Black males were more likely to be victims of legal intervention deaths, PHW-coded variables in the NVDRS and death narratives suggest lower threat profiles among Black versus similar White decedents. The source of this greater risk remains undetermined. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print May 13, 2021: e1-e9. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306312).<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0090-0036",
doi="10.2105/AJPH.2021.306312",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306312"
}