Black Americans Are 3.5 Times More Likely To Be Killed By Police

Black Americans are 3.5 times more likely to be killed at the hands of police than whites, and 59% of their deaths go unreported, according to a new study published by The Lancet.

The final tally showed that out of the 30,800 total deaths at the hands of the police over the past 40 years, 17,100 have gone unreported. The study also found that non-white Hispanics are 1.8 times more likely to be killed at the hands of the police than whites.

"Even when unarmed, Black Americans experienced disproportionately high levels of police contact, even for crimes that Black and white folks committed at the same rates," said Eve Wool, the study’s co-author.

"Police violence and racism is really a public health problem," senior author Mohsen Naghavi told ABC News.

The research comes after Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the nation in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by former Minneapolis police officer and convicted murderer Derek Chauvin. Floyd’s death has caused a demand for police reform across the country.

Lawmakers have struggled to try to find common ground in a police reform bill, “even with this law enforcement support and further compromises we offered, there was still too wide a gulf with our negotiating partners and we faced significant obstacles to securing a bipartisan deal,” said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., after negotiating with Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif.

Police-related deaths are not the only problem as NYU finds that Black drivers are 20% more likely to be pulled over and stopped than white drivers. Black drivers are also 1.5 to 2 times more likely to have their vehicles searched than white drivers while being less likely to be carrying drugs, guns, or other contraband.

A report by The National Registry of Exonerations has found that Blacks are 7 times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder and 3.5 times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of sexual assault. The report also found that Blacks are 12 times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of drug possession than whites.