U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Special Report

Arrest-Related Deaths in the United States, 2003-2005

October 2007, NCJ 219534

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This file is text only without graphics and many of the
tables. A Zip archive of the tables in this report in 
spreadsheet format (.csv) and the full report including 
tables and graphics in .pdf format are available from:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/ardus05.htm

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By Christopher J. Mumola
BJS Policy Analyst

During the 3-year period from 2003 to 2005, 47 States and 
the District of Columbia reported 2,002 arrest-related deaths 
to the Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) Deaths in Custody 
Reporting Program (DCRP). The DCRP counts represent the first
national measurement of all types of deaths that occurred
in the process of arrest. The collection of these counts was
mandated by the federal Death in Custody Reporting Act
(Public Law 106-297). 

All States were required under the act to submit a record of
any death that occurred "in the process of arrest" as a
condition of receiving federal correctional grants. The DCRP
collection was the first time most States made a
comprehensive count of these deaths. California and Texas
were the only States that compiled data on all arrest-related
deaths before the collection began. Three States -- Georgia,
Maryland, and Montana -- never reported counts of
arrest-related deaths to DCRP. Federal agencies were not
required by the act to report these deaths.

BJS worked with States to determine a contact to report
information on arrest-related deaths and to develop a
questionnaire to collect uniform data from all States. The
governor's crime commission (22 States) was the most
common reporting office, followed by the State attorney
general and the State police (8 States each). 

State contacts relied on a wide range of data sources to
complete the DCRP questionnaire. Forty-two of the 47 States
that reported data used more than 1 source, and 30 States
used at least 3 data sources. The most common source of
information was the law enforcement agency involved in the
death (43 States). 

Homicides by law enforcement officers made up 55% of all
deaths during arrests by State and local agencies 

In each year between 2003 and 2005, homicides accounted for a
majority of all reported arrest-related deaths. During this
period, States reported 1,106 arrest-related homicides which
represented 55% of arrest-related deaths from all causes.
Homicides by law enforcement officers accounted for 1,095
arrest-related deaths, and 11 homicides were committed by
other persons present at the scene. 

Homicide was reported four times more often than any other
cause of death. Drug and alcohol intoxication accounted for
13% of all deaths, followed by suicides (12%), accidental
injuries (7%), and illness or natural causes (6%). For 157
deaths (8%) a definitive cause was not reported. 

FBI and BJS counts of homicides by law enforcement were
similar in most States

Homicides by law enforcement are the only type of
arrest-related deaths measured by another national
statistical program--the Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR)
collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The
SHR and DCRP measures of homicides by law enforcement have
one important difference. The SHR program includes only
counts of homicides by law enforcement in which the use of
force was ruled "justifiable." Deaths due to unjustified use
of lethal force by officers are counted with other murders.
The DCRP counts of homicides by law enforcement include all
deaths that resulted from the use of lethal force. 

In most States, the SHR and DCRP counts of law enforcement
homicides showed small differences. In 33 States, the 2
measures differed by fewer than 10 deaths over the 3 years.
Nine States reported counts that differed by at least 20
deaths over this period, with 5 States reporting higher
counts to DCRP. California had the largest measurement
variation, reporting 354 homicides by law enforcement to SHR
between 2003 and 2005, but less than half as many (160) to
DCRP. Over the same period, Florida reported 98 law
enforcement homicides to DCRP but did not report to SHR.

In the aggregate, the two programs collected very similar
counts between 2003 and 2005. A total of 1,095 law
enforcement homicides were reported to DCRP, and 1,082
justifiable homicides by police were reported to SHR. Taking
the higher count reported by each State for each year, there
were a total of 1,489 reported law enforcement homicides. 

BJS and FBI law enforcement homicides had similar
characteristics 

Analysis of the characteristics of the deaths in the two data
collections also revealed similarities. Across both programs
nearly all of the decedents were male, the average age was 33
years old, and over 80% were killed by a handgun. 

Arrests for violent crimes were involved in 3 of every 4 law
enforcement homicides 

Three-quarters of the law enforcement homicides reported to
DCRP involved arrests for a violent crime. Except for
suicides (51%), violent offenders were involved in less than
30% of all other causes of death. Public-order offenders
accounted for 8% of homicides, followed by property (4%) and 
drug offenders (2%). In 2% of cases, law enforcement
personnel did not intend to charge the person, but took them
into custody for reasons such as medical or mental health
needs. Criminal charges were not reported for 8% of law
enforcement homicides.

Among all persons killed by law enforcement officers in the
process of arrest, 9% would have been charged with the murder
or attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, 17% would
have been arrested for assaulting an officer, and 2% would
have been charged with obstruction of police activity or
resisting arrest. 

80% of law enforcement homicides involved the use of a weapon
by the arrest subject, 96% involved the use of a firearm by
officers

State respondents reported a number of circumstances
surrounding each arrest-related death, including a variety of
behaviors by the arrest subjects and officers. In 80% of the
law enforcement homicides, the deceased reportedly used a
weapon "to threaten or assault" the arresting officers. In
17% of the homicides, the arrest subject grabbed, hit or
fought with the arresting officers.

Few homicides by law enforcement involved persons who
appeared intoxicated during the attempted arrest (18%). A
third (36%) of persons killed by officers attempted to escape
or flee from custody. About 4% of persons killed by police
had been placed under physical restraints during the
attempted arrest.

Nearly all law enforcement homicides (96%) involved the use
of firearms by officers. Handguns were used by officers in
84% of the homicides, and rifles and shotguns in 17%. Three
deaths were caused by an officer's use of a nightstick,
baton, or conducted-energy device such as a taser or stun
gun. No weapons were reportedly used in 3% of law enforcement
homicides.
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During 2003-2005, 380 law enforcement officers were
killed, and nearly 175,000 assaulted

According to the FBI's Law Enforcement Officers Killed and
Assaulted (LEOKA) data, 380 law enforcement officers
nationwide were killed in the line of duty between 2003 and
2005. Fewer than half (159) of these deaths were homicides.
Accidental deaths during arrests (221) accounted for the
majority of officer deaths in the line of duty. 

Analysis of DCRP records indicates that assaults on officers
and the use of weapons by arrest subjects were common
circumstances in homicides by law enforcement officers.
However, FBI data suggest that assaults on law enforcement
officers do not lead to arrest fatalities in most cases. The
number of persons killed by officers in the process of arrest
from 2003 to 2005 (1,095) was less than 1% of all reported
assaults on law enforcement officers (174,760) over the same
period.
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Half of all homicides by law enforcement involved large
departments with at least 500 sworn officers

According to the 2004 Census of State and Local Law
Enforcement Agencies, 168 of the Nation's 17,876 law
enforcement agencies employed at least 500 full-time sworn
officers. These large law enforcement agencies employed 39%
of all sworn officers, but were involved in half (50%) of all
homicides by law enforcement officers reported to DCRP during
2003 through 2005. 

Most arrest-related homicides involved local police
departments (74%), followed by county sheriffs' offices (19%)
and State police or highway patrol agencies (6%). Special
jurisdiction agencies, such as campus police, transit
police authorities or park police departments, were involved
in 1% of such homicides.

Deaths from alcohol or drug intoxication were least likely to
involve arrests for violent crimes 

After homicide, deaths from alcohol or drug intoxication were
the second most common type of arrest-related deaths
(13%).***Footnote 1: Excludes cases in which an arrest
subject swallowed packets of drugs for concealment purposes
(classified as "accidental injury").*** Intoxication deaths
differed from other arrest-related deaths on several
characteristics:

*Arrest subjects under age 25 made up a smaller share of
intoxication deaths (13%) than homicide (28%), accidental
(25%), or suicide (20%) deaths.

*Whites were involved in 33% of intoxication deaths, the
lowest percentage of whites among all causes of death.

*Intoxication deaths were less likely to involve violent
offenders (28%) than any other cause of death. 

Despite the low percentage of violent offenders overall,
assault (23%) was the most common criminal offense involved
in intoxication deaths. Persons arrested for substance
abuse-related offenses  - such as drug law violations (19%),
disorderly conduct including drunkenness (12%), and driving
while intoxicated (1%)  - combined for a third of all
intoxication deaths. Persons with no criminal charges made up
a larger share of intoxication deaths (9%) than any other
cause. (See Appendix tables 4 and 6 for details on
characteristics and offenses by cause of death.)

In half of intoxication deaths at booking centers or police
stations, arrestees were not visibly intoxicated 

Of the 252 arrest-related intoxication deaths, 198 occurred
in the field, prior to booking the arrest subject. In 75% of
the pre-booking intoxication deaths, the deceased appeared
intoxicated to the arresting officers. Over 80% of the
pre-booking intoxication deaths took place either at a
medical facility or en route to a medical facility,
indicating that some of the subjects who did not appear
intoxicated were still provided medical care for other
reasons.

Among the 50 intoxication deaths that took place at a police
station or booking center, half (51%) were visibly
intoxicated at the time of booking. The percentages who were
booked with visible medical (18%) or mental health
problems (2%) were much smaller. Overall, in a third of cases
where arrest subjects died from intoxication after booking,
the deceased showed no apparent signs of intoxication, mental
health problems, or medical problems at time of the booking.
(See appendix table 8 for details.) In 4 cases, the location
of the intoxication death was not reported.

In 62% of intoxication deaths, the deceased resisted arrest,
without force or weapons in most cases

Among intoxication deaths that took place in the field prior
to booking, 62% of the persons resisted arrest. According to
several measures, these actions were usually less violent and
involved weapons less often than in deaths due to homicides
by law enforcement.

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Increasing number of arrest-related deaths involved the use
of tasers or other conducted-energy devices

Conducted-energy devices (CEDs), such as stun guns or tasers,
were involved in 36 arrest-related deaths reported to DCRP
during 2003 through 2005. In about half of these deaths (17),
the CED was reported as the cause of death. In the remaining
19 deaths, the use of a CED was indicated, but it was not
reported as the cause of the death. *** Among medical and law 
enforcement experts, the ability of CEDs to cause a death is a subject 
of debate. Due to reporting gaps these 36 cases do not represent a
complete count of all deaths in which the use of a CED was involved.***
The involvement of CEDs in arrest-related deaths increased from 3 deaths 
in 2003 to 24 in 2005. 

Every type of arrest-related death was reported among the 36
deaths involving the use of CEDs. The most common cause of
death was intoxication (10), followed by accidents (8), and
homicides by law enforcement (7). One death was attributed to
illness and another death was a suicide. In 9 cases where
CED-use was reported, a cause of death could not be
determined.

Arrests for violent crimes were involved in 16 of the CED-
involved deaths, and 8 deaths involved property crimes. In
two cases, the deceased was detained for mental health care,
and in five cases no information on criminal offense was
reported. 
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Higher percentages of violent offenders, whites involved in
arrest-related suicides 

Suicide accounted for nearly as many arrest-related deaths
(234) as intoxication (252). Reports of suicides also
increased 63% from 2003 (56) to 2005 (91). 


Other than homicides (74%), suicides were the only type of
arrest-related death to involve arrests for violent crimes in
most cases (51%). Suicide was the only type of death in which
a majority (57%) of the decedents were white. This finding is
consistent with the higher suicide rates observed for white
prison and jail inmates in other DCRP collections (see
Suicide and Homicide in State Prisons and Local Jails
<http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/shsplj.htm>).

Two-thirds (67%) of arrest-related suicides occurred at the
scene of the attempted arrest, while the remainder took place
at a police station or booking facility. In terms of their
personal characteristics, the arrest subjects who committed
suicide in these two settings showed many similarities. 

Arrest-related suicides in the field differed sharply from
those in police stations or booking centers 

The circumstances of the suicides showed sharp differences
based on the setting of the events. Suicides that took place
at the scene of the attempted arrest were more likely to
involve large law enforcement agencies and typically involved
firearms. Suicides that took place at a police station or
in a booking center were more likely to involve small law
enforcement agencies and almost exclusively involved hanging.
Suicides that took place after booking also involved a higher
percentage of arrest subjects who were visibly intoxicated. 

Methodology

The Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 (Public Law
106-297) required the U.S. Department of Justice to begin a
quarterly collection of individual death records for all
persons incarcerated in State or local correctional
facilities, as well as "any person who is in the process of
arrest." The act linked eligibility for funds under the
Violent Offender Incarceration and Truth In Sentencing
(VOI/TIS) grant programs to reporting death records to the
Attorney General. At the time the law was enacted, all 50
States and the District of Columbia participated in the
VOI/TIS grant programs. The act did not apply to Federal law
enforcement agencies or the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

BJS was tasked with implementing the act and phased in data
collection activity over a 4-year period. Collection of death
records from local jail facilities began in 2000, followed by
a separate collection from State prison authorities in 2001.
In 2002 BJS began collecting death records from all State
juvenile correctional systems. The collection of
arrest-related records began in 2003. These four data
collections make up the Deaths in Custody Reporting
Program (DCRP).

Identifying State-level data providers

In developing the collection of arrest-related death records,
BJS staff contacted multiple offices in each State to
determine the appropriate reporting contact. While each State
was required to report these death records as a condition of
eligibility for VOI/TIS grant funds, the grants were awarded
to State departments of correction. In developing the
collection, BJS did not find any State correctional
authorities that collected information on the operations of
law enforcement agencies in their State. 

At the time the Death in Custody Reporting Act was passed,
only two States (California and Texas) collected information
on all types of arrest-related deaths. For the remaining 48
States and the District of Columbia, the new DCRP collection
was the first attempt to perform a comprehensive count of all
arrest-related deaths.

In California and Texas, State statutes required the
reporting of all arrest-related deaths to the State Attorney
General's office. These offices agreed to complete statewide
reports of arrest-related deaths for submission to BJS. In
all other jurisdictions, BJS worked with State officials to
determine which agency would collect arrest-related death
reports. 

A State criminal justice commission, commonly administered by
the governor's office, was the most common data reporting
contact (22 States), followed by the State attorney general
and State police department (8 States each). In five States,
the department of corrections took a lead role in compiling
records because of the VOI/TIS grant funding. In over 30
States, the reporting office also served as a State criminal
justice Statistical Analysis Center (SAC).

While every State identified a data provider, three States --
Georgia, Maryland, and Montana  - never submitted records.
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee began
participating in 2004, and Nevada and Wyoming stopped
participating in 2004. A total of 43 States participated in
2003, and 45 States participated in both 2004 and 2005. The
District of Columbia submitted records in all 3 years.
 
Many of the arrest-related deaths undergo lengthy
investigations by prosecutors, police departments, and
coroner's offices to determine a cause of death or decide a
legal disposition of the case. It took up to 15 months to
finalize cause of death information for some cases. Multiple
contacts were made to the State data providers to complete
missing items and receive a final cause of death.

Data sources for State reporters

Regardless of which State office ultimately took the lead in
compiling the death records, most States utilized multiple
data sources in this effort. Of the 47 States that
participated at some point, 42 used multiple sources of
information on arrest-related deaths, while 30 states
reported at least 3 different sources of data. (See Appendix
table 1 for a detailed listing of reporting methods used by
each State.)

State and local law enforcement agencies were the most common
source of data used by State reporters. Law enforcement
agencies voluntarily reported arrest-related deaths to 40
data providers. In California and Texas, law enforcement
agencies were required by State law to submit arrest-related
death records. The Metropolitan Police Department was the
only source of arrest-related data for the District of
Columbia.

Thirty States used media searches to identify arrest-related
deaths and followed up with a data request to the law
enforcement agency involved in the incident. In some cases
when the agency did not respond to this information request,
the State contact used the media accounts of the death to
complete the DCRP questionnaire. Twenty-three States involved
county coroners or the State medical examiner's office in
compiling these records, and 19 States involved the State
police. Nine States used their Uniform Crime Reporting
office, and 6 States collected information from prosecutors'
offices. Seven States used other resources or agencies in
compiling these reports. 

Defining deaths "in the process of arrest"

BJS had to define the term "in the process of arrest,"
specified in the Death in Custody Reporting Act (PL 106-297).
BJS staff consulted with the International Association of
Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Sheriffs' Association
(NSA), and criminal justice researchers to identify which
circumstances involved an "arrest process."

All deaths of persons in the physical custody or under the
physical restraint of law enforcement officers were included.
This resulted in the reporting of 75 deaths over three years
in which no criminal charges were involved. Law enforcement
responses to people exhibiting mental health problems
accounted for 44 of these cases, while another 9 cases
involved persons who had to be restrained by police for
medical transportation. In another 22 cases, the reason for
law enforcement involvement was not specified, but the record
indicated that no criminal charges were involved. The deaths
of any other persons not subject to an attempted arrest were
excluded, including bystanders and law enforcement officers
killed during an attempted arrest.

State contacts were instructed to include all deaths
resulting from use of force by law enforcement officers.
Arrest-related suicides were also included in this
collection, provided that law enforcement officers were in
some type of contact with the arrest subject prior to the
suicide. For example, if an armed suspect was surrounded by
officers and chose to take his own life rather than
surrender, the death would be included. However, if an
offender was actively sought by police but committed suicide
before the police located him, the death would be excluded.
The reason for the exclusion is that no officers were present
at the time of death to attempt an arrest.

Vehicular accident deaths that were not specifically related
to arrest activities were excluded from the collection.
States were instructed to include vehicular accident deaths
only when law enforcement officers actively took some role in
causing the accident during an arrest attempt. This included
shooting at the vehicle or driver or forcing the vehicle off
the road with a police vehicle or other obstructions (such as
a spike strip to blow out tires or a roadblock). All other
vehicular deaths were excluded. 

States were also instructed to disregard whether an arrest
warrant had been issued. Because officers frequently make
arrests in response to unexpected events, requiring an arrest
warrant would leave many arrest-related deaths unreported.
Likewise, States were told to exclude the deaths of persons
who had arrest warrants issued against them that went
unenforced. For example, if an offender had a bench warrant
issued for their arrest, but later died before any officers
attempted to enforce this arrest warrant, the State was told
to exclude that record. In such cases, the arrest warrant
indicated an administrative criminal justice status and not
an attempt to bring the subject into custody.

Deaths of arrestees were subject to the data collection from
the time police encountered them in the field until the time
they were booked into a local jail facility. This included
deaths of arrest subjects who died at medical facilities due
to injuries or medical problems, as well as any persons who
died in transit from an arrest scene in a police vehicle or
ambulance. All deaths in jails are reported to BJS under a
separate DCRP collection with different questionnaires. 

Once records of arrest-related deaths were submitted to BJS,
the forms were reviewed to ensure that each case met the
established guidelines. Deaths were checked against the DCRP
database of jail facility deaths for the same year to avoid
double-counting. BJS staff and the State contacts routinely
discussed and resolved cases that were ambiguous or appeared
to involve circumstances that would exclude them from the
collection. 

Arrest-related deaths from the Supplementary Homicide Reports

While DCRP is the only national statistical program that
measures all types of arrest-related deaths, two other
national programs measure law enforcement homicides. Law
enforcement agencies can submit Supplementary Homicide
Reports (SHR) as part of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting
(UCR) program. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)
also compiles mortality statistics, including a category for
law enforcement homicides. The SHR records include basic data
on the type of homicide, the relationship between the
deceased and assailant, and demographic characteristics of
the deceased. Law enforcement agencies describe the event
as a "justifiable homicide by police." 

During the 3 years covered by this report, Florida and the
District of Columbia did not report SHR data to the FBI. In
other States, an SHR record should have been filed by police
for all justifiable homicides. It is unknown what percentage
of justifiable homicides by police were actually submitted to
SHR. For a detailed discussion of SHR reporting procedures
regarding justifiable homicides by police, see the
Methodology section of Policing and Homicide, 1976-98:
Justifiable Homicide by Police, Police Officers Murdered
by Felons <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/ph98.htm>.

A major difference between the SHR and DCRP counts of law
enforcement homicides is the source of the data. SHR records
are reported by the law enforcement agencies involved in the
deaths while DCRP records are compiled by State data
reporters. State law enforcement agencies were involved in 6%
of law enforcement homicide cases reported to DCRP. In the
remaining 94% of law enforcement homicides, State data
reporters provided data on local law enforcement agencies
(see appendix table 7).

A comparison of the SHR and DCRP counts of law enforcement
homicides between 2003 and 2005 is discussed on page 2. Data
for each State by type of data collection are presented in
appendix table 3. 

Arrest-related deaths from the National Center for Health
Statistics  

A national measure of law enforcement homicides is also
contained in mortality statistics collected by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for
Health Statistics (NCHS). In collecting death certificates
for all deaths in the United States, NCHS classifies causes
of death according to the International Classification of
Disease, 10th revision (ICD-10). Under the ICD-10 system,
deaths can be classified as "deaths by legal intervention"
(or code Y35). These records include only deaths by police
use of force and mandated executions in prisons. None of the
other forms of arrest-related deaths are included.

The NCHS death records are typically reported by coroners and
medical examiner's offices. These data providers may not
always use the specific ICD-10 code to designate law
enforcement homicides separately from other homicide cases.
The respondents may also not know if the deceased was
involved in an attempted arrest at the time of death. 
 
Final NCHS' mortality data on legal intervention deaths were
not available for 2005. For 2003 and 2004, NCHS counts of
legal intervention deaths by police (679 nationwide) were
lower than the counts of law enforcement homicides reported
to DCRP (731) and justifiable homicides by police reported to
SHR (739). NCHS counts of legal intervention deaths are
available at <http://wonder.cdc.gov/cmf-icd10.html>.

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The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of
the U.S. Department of Justice. Jeffrey L. Sedgwick is
director.

This Special Report was written by Christopher J. Mumola.
Margaret E. Noonan verified the report and prepared data
tables. Data collection and processing of death records were
carried out by Lara E. Allen and Margaret E. Noonan. Erica L.
Smith analyzed data from the FBI's Supplementary Homicide
Reports. 

Carolyn C. Williams of BJS produced and edited the report.
Jayne Robinson prepared the report for final printing, under
the supervision of Doris J. James.
October 2007, NCJ 219534
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This report in portable document format and in ASCII 
and its related statistical data and tables are 
available at the BJS World Wide Web Internet site:
<http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/ardus05.htm>.
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End of file
10/3/2007 JR