© Reuters/Jim Bourg
On Friday morning, the Washington Post reported that "over 700 people" have been shot and killed by police in the United States so far this year. If one accounts for all deaths at the hands of US police however, that number shoots up to 851.
In fact, 51 people have been killed by police in the month of September alone, according to the comprehensive database at killedbypolice.net, and there are still a dozen days left until October.
Fewer than half of all those sent to early graves by police this year — 402 — reportedly had a gun, according to the searchable database project The Counted, created by The
Guardian.
At least 211, or approximately 25% of those killed, were black, even though they make up only 12.6% of the United States population.
At least 14 of those that have fallen at the hands of cops this year were minors, some as young as 15 years old.
The North East appears to have the lowest rates of deadly police violence.
There has not been a single person reported killed by police in the state of Vermont. There have been one each in Rhode Island and Maine, three in Connecticut, and 10 in Massachusetts.
California leads the nation in police deaths, with 141 reported by September 18. Texas comes in second with 84.
Comment: The criminal justice system is a travesty. It preys on the poor and disenfranchised while the rich can buy their way out of trouble. Our so-called legal system is full of cases of wrongful imprisonment.