Data Source

First we’ll download the dataset from The Guardian’s database

# Download data
temp <- tempfile()
download.file(url.download, temp, method = "curl")
the_counted <- read.csv(unz(temp, "the-counted.csv"))
unlink(temp)
rm(temp)



Before We Get Started…

For the purposes of these visualizations, civilian refers to the person who was killed. Each facet is represented by the blue boxes with yellow text on either side



Preview of the table:

uid name age gender raceethnicity streetaddress city state classification lawenforcementagency armed date
2 Matthew Ajibade 22 Male Black 1050 Carl Griffin Dr Savannah GA Death in custody Chatham County Sheriff’s Office No 2015-01-01
4 Lewis Lembke 47 Male White 4505 SW Masters Loop Aloha OR Gunshot Washington County Sheriff’s Office Firearm 2015-01-02
5 Michael Kocher Jr 19 Male White 2600 Kaumualii Hwy Kaumakani HI Struck by vehicle Kauai Police Department No 2015-01-03
6 John Quintero 23 Male Hspnc/Lt 500 North Oliver Ave Wichita KS Gunshot Wichita Police Department No 2015-01-03
7 Tim Elliott 53 Male Asn/PcfI 600 E Island Lake Dr Shelton WA Gunshot Mason County Sheriff’s Office Firearm 2015-01-02
8 Matthew Hoffman 32 Male White 630 Valencia St San Francisco CA Gunshot San Francisco Police Department Non-lethal firearm 2015-01-04

The following figures are still work-in-progress, and I’ll be coming back to annotate/update them in coming days!




High Level Tables


### Civilian Armed by Race/Ethnicity
armed Arb-Amrc Asn/PcfI Black Hspnc/Lt NtvAmrcn Other Unknown White
Disputed 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Firearm 1 7 116 69 5 1 26 272
Knife 1 5 32 30 1 0 5 64
No 1 4 68 32 4 0 4 91
Non-lethal firearm 0 0 9 6 0 0 1 21
Other 0 2 11 16 2 0 4 20
Unknown 1 0 12 11 0 0 4 36
Vehicle 0 0 15 4 1 0 0 18



Civilian Cause of Death by Race/Ethnicity

classification Arb-Amrc Asn/PcfI Black Hspnc/Lt NtvAmrcn Other Unknown White
Death in custody 0 1 15 6 2 0 3 12
Gunshot 4 14 223 154 10 1 41 469
Other 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Struck by vehicle 0 1 7 2 0 0 0 22
Taser 0 2 18 7 1 0 0 20



Civilian Cause of Death by Civilian Armed

armed Death in custody Gunshot Other Struck by vehicle Taser
Disputed 0 3 0 0 0
Firearm 0 496 0 1 0
Knife 0 137 0 0 1
No 36 92 1 30 45
Non-lethal firearm 0 37 0 0 0
Other 1 52 0 0 2
Unknown 2 61 0 1 0
Vehicle 0 38 0 0 0



Gender, Civilian Armed by Race/Ethnicity

gender armed Arb-Amrc Asn/PcfI Black Hspnc/Lt NtvAmrcn Other Unknown White
Female Firearm 0 0 3 0 0 0 2 11
Female Knife 0 0 4 2 0 0 0 4
Female No 0 1 3 1 0 0 0 8
Female Non-lethal firearm 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Female Unknown 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Female Vehicle 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3
Male Disputed 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Male Firearm 1 7 113 69 5 1 24 261
Male Knife 1 5 28 28 1 0 5 60
Male No 1 3 65 30 4 0 4 83
Male Non-lethal firearm 0 0 9 6 0 0 1 20
Male Other 0 2 11 16 2 0 4 20
Male Unknown 1 0 12 11 0 0 4 34
Male Vehicle 0 0 14 4 1 0 0 15
Non-conforming No 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0






Cause of Death

Figure 01: Histograms indicating the count of civilians killed by classifiaction of their cause of death (x-axis); Each bar is colored by whether the civilian was armed






Was The Civilian Armed?

Bearing arms does not excuse taking the life of another human being (in my opinion, at least).

Figure 02(a): Histograms indicating the count of civilians killed by whether they were armed

Figure 02(b): Density bars indicating the relative density of civilians killed (grouped by whether they were armed)

Figure 02(c): Histograms indicating the count of civilians killed by whether they were armed (faceted horizontally by the cause of death classified by the police)

Figure 02(d): Density bars indicating the relative density of civilians killed (grouped by whether they were armed and faceted horizontally by the cause of death classified by the police)

Data table

Geo-Maps






By Civilian’s Age

Boxplots

Figure 03: Boxplots illustrating the distribution of race/ethnicity vs the civilian’s age (colored by gender)

  • For Whites, age appears to be a minimal factor, with a median age of 39 years old (for both genders).

  • For Hispanics, it appears that the males who have been killed have a median age of 30 years old.

  • Although the graph indicates that Hispanics females killed have a median age of 37 years old, this is based on a relatively small sample size of 3 persons (so we shouldn’t read too much into this).

  • Black females tend to be slightly younger (although they represent a smaller fraction of the total deaths reported), with a median age of 28 years old.

  • Black males have a similar median age (31 years old) with the 75% percentile of deaths occurring at a much younger age than their white counterparts (mirroring Hispanic males).



Density Graphs

Figure 04: Density distribution of civilian’s age, colored by whether they were armed

Based on the density graphs, it appears that age doesn’t coorelate signifigantly with whether the civilian was armed at the time of their death.

Figure 05: A detailed (multi-dimensional) breakdown of the age of civilians killed by police




Gender, Race, and Ethnicity

Gender

Variable Description
X-axis Gender of the person who was killed
Y-axis The count (or number) of persons killed
Color The cause of death
X-Facet Race/Ethnicity of person killed
Y-Facet Was the person killed armed? Remember, the Bill of Rights affords civilians the right to bear arms

Figure 06: A detailed (multi-dimensional) breakdown of police induced deaths



Geo-Maps


Unarmed Civilians (Specifically)




Contact

Hunter Ratliff

Email: hunterratliff1@gmail.com
Twitter: @HunterRatliff1

Copyright (C) 2015 Hunter Ratliff

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