For years now, the question of racial bias in police killings has been a major point of contention. As regular NR readers know, I’ve been watching this debate closely and noting key studies on both sides.
But if you’ve ever read an article of mine on the topic and wished it were ten to 20 times as long, please check out my new Manhattan Institute report. It explains how our knowledge has evolved since Ferguson — as private actors stepped up to collect data the government was failing to, and as researchers developed more and more sophisticated ways of studying the question.
Those who were expecting undeniable proof of rampant racism to immediately leap from the data are bound to be disappointed. But there’s a lot that remains unsettled here, with important bits of evidence pointing in different directions — as one might expect for a complicated and messy human reality. Read the whole thing for the details.