The Police Use of Deadly Force: International Comparisons

Abstract

While the societies of the United States of America and Canada are similar in many ways, recent research has noted significant differences in the rates of extreme violence between the two nations. Extreme violence includes the police use of deadly force, the murder of police officers by an assailant, the homicide rate of the general population and violent crime such as firearm robberies. Despite the differences in crime rates, trends in crime in the two countries are quite similar. The findings of this study illustrate that the perceived threat and calculated risk for police officers in the United States is substantially higher then for police officers in Canada, and in many other nations. This may explain why police officers in the United States utilise deadly force in greater frequency than in most western nations.