Data clash

The two infographics on this page show the difference in federal reporting of officer-involved deaths. The top chart shows the statistics compiled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, regarding Arrest-Related Deaths, available at www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=243, which include “records of all deaths occurring during the process of arrest. Data are collected directly from state and local law enforcement agencies.”

The bottom graph is accrued data released by the Department of Justice with the Uniform Crime Report’s Expanded Homicide Data, http://1.usa.gov/1wscWMb, which purports to show the killing of a felon by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty. Large jurisdictions, including the state of Florida, have not contributed to this dataset, and yet national news organizations report the numbers as though they’re comprehensive enough to draw conclusions from.

The assumption would be that the bottom graphic would be a subset of the top graphic. That assumption would be erroneous, and neither chart is accurate or comprehensive. What both graphics show, though, is that the Death in Custody Reporting Act had little-to-no effect on the reporting of statistics.