Objectives: To update previous examinations of racial/ethnic disparities in the use of lethal force by US police.
Methods: I examined online national vital statistics data for deaths assigned an underlying cause of "legal intervention" (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, external-cause-of-injury codes Y35.0-Y35.7, excluding Y35.5 [legal execution]) for the 5-year period 2010 to 2014.
Results: Death certificates identified 2285 legal intervention deaths (1.5 per million population per year) from 2010 to 2014. Among males aged 10 years or older, who represented 96% of these deaths, the mortality rate among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic individuals was 2.8 and 1.7 times higher, respectively, than that among White individuals.
Conclusions: Substantial racial/ethnic disparities in legal intervention deaths remain an ongoing problem in the United States.