Disturbing chart shows rise in “justified killings” of blacks in U.S.

George Zimmerman has been found not guilty of murdering the unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida. Many Americans were not shocked. And there's a good reason why. Hard data shows that recent U.S. laws make it easy for blacks to be gunned down without anyone being found guilty of murder.

Last year, PBS Frontline published a fascinating analysis of how murder convictions have been affected by "Stand Your Ground" laws, which expand the reach of self-defense laws that protected Zimmerman. The study was conducted by John Roman, a senior analyst at Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center who had previously conducted studies on the statistical relationships between race and homicide in the United States.

As an interesting aside, it's worth noting that the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in 1987 that a defendant cannot use statistical evidence in court to prove racial bias when it comes to death sentences. Mull that over as you read.



Rest at io9: http://io9.com/disturbing-chart-shows-rise-in-justified-killings-of-773490798