Homicide Studies Special Issue on Police Use of Deadly Force

Abstract

The police have enormous power and responsibility in relation to the use of deadly force. Continuing high-profile events involving lethal force illustrate the importance of this crucial decision and how such force, even if legally justified, can spark outcry among groups and communities that believe officers could—and should—have resolved the situations without resorting to lethal force. For this special issue I sought manuscripts that explore the nature of this crucial decision from any number of per-spectives (e.g., officers, police leaders, individuals, academics, communities, etc.) and drawing on any number of approaches (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, theoretical, etc.). Researchers were encouraged to be innovative in their research ques-tions and methodology, as I envisioned the opportunity to push the boundaries in new and inventive ways to shed light on this crucial issue. The end result is the nine issues appearing in this issue. We begin with a systematic review of the deadly force literature over the most recently completed decade (2011–2020) by Oramas Mora, Terrill, and Foster. The article is designed to offer a high-level broad perspective into the most recently completed decade (2011–2020) of research focusing mainly on how often and why the police use such force. The authors find, not surprisingly given the continued public discourse surrounding lethal force, that the number of research works has risen sub-stantially over this time period. Moreover, the body of research during this period indicates that citizen possession of a weapon continues to be a consistent risk factor. Further, while many of the studies sought to examine a potential link between race and lethal force, the findings remain mixed. In the second and third articles, the authors seek to glean an understanding from officers in terms