A Data-Driven Study of Autopsies written for Non-Firearm Legal Interventions in Los Angeles, 2000-2020

Police in the U.S. kill more people than those in any other advanced democracy. Medical examiners and coroners play an integral role in determining whether law enforcement officers are charged for deaths in their custody and studies suggest that nearly 55 percent of these deaths are never reported or are misclassified. Historian of science Terence Keel and gerontologist Lauren Brown will investigate the extent to which post-mortem medical examinations may lead to underreporting or misclassification of police-involved deaths. They will examine autopsy and coroner reports for deaths involving law enforcement from 2000-2020 in Los Angeles County for their study.