Areas with increased police spending have higher rates of suicides and police-perpetrated deaths among Black Americans, according to a new study led by Rutgers University in New Jersey.
For their study, authors examined federal data on money spent on police and social services in all 50 states, as well as information on suicide rates and police killings between 2010 and 2020. In their analysis, they sought out to determine the years of potential life lost for Black Americans who died by suicide or by police. To measure their results, they noted each death against the average Black life expectancy of 75 years old.
For every $100 increase in per capita police expenditures, there was an average of 35 years of lost life to suicide and 7 years of lost life to police killings per 100,000 Black residents in the following year. This means a $100 per capita increase in annual police spending translated to an overall total of 14,385 more years lost to suicide and 2,877 more years lost to police killings among the the country’s 41.1 million Black residents. Notably, police spending did not impact potential life lost for White residents.
However, increased spending on social services was linked to fewer years of lost life for Black Americans. For every $100 increase in per capita housing and community development expenditures, the authors found 29 fewer years lost to suicide five years later per 100,000 Black residents.
“That police expenditures were associated with increases in suicide and police-perpetrated killing for Black residents is alarming given the national norm for suicide and mental health crisis intervention is a police-led response,” the authors write.
They continue: “For those elected officials and staffers who shape state and local budgets and want to reduce suicide inequities, our results suggest housing and community development may be a good investment.”
In addition to Rutgers University, the authors included scholars from the University of Maryland and North Carolina State University.
