NCJ Number
164078
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 42 Issue: 4 Dated: (October 1996) Pages: 535- 552
Date Published
1996
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Data from United States cities for 1990 were used to analyze the relationship between the availability to the police of various types of less-than-lethal weapons and the rates of general and race-specific homicides.
Abstract
The study was prompted by the general consensus in law enforcement circles that less-than-lethal weapons are effective in reducing police killings of citizens in the line of duty. The cities all had populations of more than 100,000. The analysis used bivariate and multivariate techniques to assess the effects of the availability of nonlethal devices on justifiable homicides by police. Findings produced no data indicating that police killing rates are affected by the availability of less-than-lethal weapons. To the contrary, the findings revealed overwhelmingly negligible results. Findings suggest that despite the high hopes of many law enforcement authorities, less-than-lethal weapons do not provide an improvement in preventing police-citizen killings. Nevertheless, methodological issues make it impossible to conclude that less-than-lethal weapons are not capable of significantly reducing police-citizen killings. Tables, notes, and 14 references (Author abstract modified)