Criminology Commons^™

Less-Than-Lethal Weapons And Police-Citizen Killings In U.S. Urban Areas, William C. Bailey

Sociology & Criminology Faculty Publications

There appears to be general consensus in law enforcement circles that less-than-lethal weapons are effective in reducing police-citizen killings, but this “common wisdom” has not been subject to systematic empirical analysis. Considering a large sample of U.S. cities for 1990, this article examines the association between the availability to the police of various types of less-than-lethal weapons and general and race-specific justifiable homicide rates. The analysis produces no evidence that police killing rates are affected by the availability of less-than-lethal weapons.