# data[].attributes.body
Everywhere from the news, to presidential debates, to walking down the street, you can see things referencing to the discrimination against African-Americans, particularly men, from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Although this has been the case throughout American history, it has now started to see the largest spotlight in media and conversation since the Civil Rights movement.

# data[].attributes.body
The American prison system was widely unorganized and unregulated. But after the 13th Amendment was ratified, freed slaves were viewed as "a dangerous population...but also a welcome source of manpower"(Adamson). This led to the creation of numerous discriminating laws, primarily vagrancy, which allowed large law enforcement to arrest large numbers of newly freed slaves. While yes, African Americans were now free, it did not mean employers would hire them, or clerks would sign documents allowing them to own land. This led to a majority being homeless, and according to the vagrancy laws, this allowed law enforcement to arrest them. Once in the prison system, prisons would then lease out prisoners as labor in agriculture, mining, and lumber yards. There are some historians who say these conditions were worse off than plantations.

# data[].attributes.body
According to the numbers available from a report on new prison admittances dating from 1910-1950, 26% of the admittances were "non white".

# data[].attributes.body
And yet, the census demographics show that from that same time period, the percentage of African Americans was never higher than 10.7% of the population. So even dating back to the turn of the century, you were 2.5 times more likely to be arrested if you were black.

# data[].attributes.body
Today, the focus is on far greater problems than incarceration rates. Between camera phones and the internet, hearing about and seeing police shootings has drastically increased. The Washington Post began tracking fatal officer involved shootings (FOIS)  information in 2015, this is also when police body cams began getting used. Since 2015, only 675 of the 5,652 shootings have body cam footage.

# data[].attributes.body
The continued and extremely consistent trend of police shootings is staggering. The fact that with continued claims of regulations and training, there has been virtually no change in police shootings.

# data[].attributes.body
The hotspots of shooting locations is in populated cities. The highest rates per capita are New Mexico, Alaska, and Oklahoma.

# data[].attributes.body
A common argument people make about police shootings is that fewer African Americans are shot than whites, however if you look at the rates, it is substantially more common per capita.

# data[].attributes.body
Information on officers involved in FOIS is very incomplete and scattered. This information is sent by individual departments, on a voluntary basis, to the FBI Uniform Crime Report. It is estimated less than 50% FOIS are reported this way. The ones which are reported include no information about the officers or the circumstances involved with the shooting. Even independent sources like the Washington post struggle to collect information about the officers since 1 in 5 go unnamed by their department.

# data[].attributes.body
This information is from July, but it shows the lack of urgency a majority of state governments are showing for this problem. Only 3 states had passed any type of policing reform while 29 hadn't even started talking about things which need changed.

# data[].attributes.body
Cahalan, M. W. (1986). Historical Corrections Statistics in the United States, 1850 - 1984 (Publication No. 84-BJ-CX-005). Retrieved October 4, 2020, from https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/hcsus5084.pdf

U.S. Census Bureau (1980). Section 1 Population. Retrieved from https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/1980/compendia/statab/101ed/1980-02.pdf.

U.S. Census Bureau (1910) Census Bulletins - Demographics. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1910/dec/bulletins/demographics.html

Contorno, S. (2014, December 3). PolitiFact - Are deaths from police shootings the highest in 20 years? Retrieved October 3, 2020, from https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/dec/03/marc-morial/are-deaths-police-shootings-highest-20-years/

Ansar, E. (2018, January 17). History of Body-Worn Camera Legislation: Axon. Retrieved October 1, 2020, from https://www.axon.com/news/history-of-body-worn-camera-legislation

Tate, J., Jenkins, J., Rich, S., Muyskens, J., & Fox, J. (2020, January 22). Fatal Force: Police shootings database. Retrieved October 1, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/

Johnson, D. J., Tress, T., Burkel, N., Taylor, C., & Cesario, J. (2019, August 06). Officer characteristics and racial disparities in fatal officer-involved shootings. Retrieved October 1, 2020, from https://www.pnas.org/content/116/32/15877

Li, W., & Lodhi, H. (2020, June 18). Which States Are Taking on Police Reform After George Floyd? Retrieved from https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/06/18/which-states-are-taking-on-police-reform-after-george-floyd

Adamson, C. R. (1983). Punishment after Slavery: Southern State Penal Systems, 1865-1890. Social Problems, 30(5), 555-569. doi:10.2307/800272