Police killings and suicide among Black Americans

TY - JOUR

T1 - Police killings and suicide among Black Americans

AU - Kyriopoulos, Ilias

AU - Vandoros, Sotiris

AU - Kawachi, Ichiro

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to thank the Senior Editor of the Medical Geography Editorial Office and two anonymous referees for useful comments and suggestions that have helped improve the paper. Thanks are also due to Adolfo Cuevas. All outstanding errors are our own. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors

PY - 2022/7

Y1 - 2022/7

N2 - Black Americans are killed at higher rates by police than whites. Previous studies have shown that discrimination can lead to suicidal ideation, and that mental health of Black Americans deteriorates after police killings. The objective of this study is to examine whether police killings are associated with an increase in suicide rates amongst Black Americans. Controlling for a number of factors, we found that on months with at least one killing of a Black person by police, there were, on average, 0.0472 additional suicides per 100,000 Black Americans in the U.S. Census Division where the killing occurred. We did not find any spillover effects on other divisions. This association persisted when controlling for gun ownership, and did not seem to be a result of variance in deaths by assault. There was no association between killings of Black Americans and white suicides; white killings and Black suicides; or white killings and white suicides. This study highlights another reason for urgent action on reducing police killings.

AB - Black Americans are killed at higher rates by police than whites. Previous studies have shown that discrimination can lead to suicidal ideation, and that mental health of Black Americans deteriorates after police killings. The objective of this study is to examine whether police killings are associated with an increase in suicide rates amongst Black Americans. Controlling for a number of factors, we found that on months with at least one killing of a Black person by police, there were, on average, 0.0472 additional suicides per 100,000 Black Americans in the U.S. Census Division where the killing occurred. We did not find any spillover effects on other divisions. This association persisted when controlling for gun ownership, and did not seem to be a result of variance in deaths by assault. There was no association between killings of Black Americans and white suicides; white killings and Black suicides; or white killings and white suicides. This study highlights another reason for urgent action on reducing police killings.

KW - suicide

KW - police killings

KW - racism

KW - discrimination

KW - Black mental health

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131131235&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114964

DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114964

M3 - Article

SN - 0277-9536

VL - 305

JO - Social Science & Medicine

JF - Social Science & Medicine

M1 - 114964

ER -