Some time ago I wrote a brief article about a Washington Post dataset compiling all fatal police shootings since Jan 1, 2015. In that post I showed evidence of racial disproportionality in fatal shootings. Young Black men in particular were being shot and killed by police at higher rates than their White (and Asian) counterparts. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis, I created an interactive dashboard so users can explore the data referenced in my post, which is hosted here. With this app, users select a state and are shown statistics about the rate, number, and demographics of fatal police shootings. I hope the data finds a wider audience. There is plenty to learn about fatal shootings across the country. The interactive nature of the interface should allow users to discover facts and patterns, or merely gape at the scope and regularity of fatal violence in the United States.
The data is, unfortunately, both instructive and timely. The Post itself wrote an article based on their analysis of the dataset this Monday (6/8/20), in which the authors noted that “[f]atal police shootings have been remarkably consistent every year. This year is on track to be no different.” (In a macabre but fitting twist to the design and implementation of this project, several new shootings were added to the file between the time I began and the time I finished this dashboard.)
Midway through Federalist 51 Madison asks, “[b]ut what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?” In this data we can see quite clearly the state exercising its power over the lives of its citizens, instantiating a morbid reflection on human nature (or at least the nature of the governing powers). Madison continues:
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
Black lives matter. The data show, however, how little they are valued, and how the state has not been obliged to control itself.
I created this dashboard with R, using shiny for the app, leaflet for the map, and ggplot for the charts. The full code is available on my Github.
