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username2 comments on Open thread, Oct. 03 - Oct. 09, 2016 - Less Wrong Discussion

4 Post author: MrMind 03 October 2016 06:59AM

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Comment author: username2 05 October 2016 06:16:23PM *  8 points [-]

The problem is that the statistics don't show the claimed bias. Normalized on a per-police-encounter basis, white cops (or cops-in-general) don't appear to shoot black suspects more often than they shoot white suspects. However, police interact with black people more frequently, so the absolute proportion of black shooting victims is elevated.

The fact that the incidence of police encounters with blacks is elevated would be the actual social problem worth addressing, but the reasons for the elevated incidence of police-black encounters do not make a nice soundbite.

None of this is important of course because, as is usual for politics, the whole mess degenerates into cheerleading for your team and condemning the other team, and sensitive analysis of the actual evidence would be giving aid and comfort to the hated enemy.

Comment author: Brillyant 05 October 2016 07:02:37PM -1 points [-]

The problem is that the statistics don't show the claimed bias. Normalized on a per-police-encounter basis, white cops (or cops-in-general) don't appear to shoot black suspects more often than they shoot white suspects. However, police interact with black people more frequently, so the absolute proportion of black shooting victims is elevated.

Can you provide any sources for this?

The fact that the incidence of police encounters with blacks is elevated would be the actual social problem worth addressing, but the reasons for the elevated incidence of police-black encounters do not make a nice soundbite.

Is the incidence of police encounters with blacks elevated?

What are the reasons?

Comment author: username2 05 October 2016 07:30:28PM 0 points [-]

Source: http://www.nber.org/papers/w22399

What are the reasons? Well, beginning with the discovery of the North American continent 1492 ...