SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The Center for American Progress reports
Congress [just] passed a bill that could result in complete, national data on police shootings and other deaths in law enforcement custody.
Right now, we have nothing close to that. Police departments are not required to report information about police to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Some do, others don't, others submit it some years and not others or submit potentially incomplete numbers, making it near-impossible to know how many people police kill every year. Based on the figures that are reported to the federal government, ProPublica recently concluded that young black men are 21 times more likely to be killed by police than whites.
Under the bill awaiting Obama's signature, states receiving federal funds would be required to report every quarter on deaths in law enforcement custody. This includes not [only] those who are killed by police during a stop, arrest, or other interaction. It also includes those who die in jail or prison. [Additionally,] it requires details about these shootings including gender, race, as well as at least some circumstances surrounding the death.
(Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday December 17 2014, @07:05AM
While you have a point that crime usually increases with unemployment, it does not follow that violent crime increases. Statistics from most of the Western World show a decrease in violent crime over the last 30 or 40 years, not just American statistics and some governments such as mine who run on a law and order platform really want the statistics to show the opposite so they can more easily expand the law and prison segments of society and especially get rid of those pesky civil rights like our equivalent of your 4th amendment and snoop on everyone while being the most secretive government in memory.