LESS-THAN-LETHAL WEAPONS AND POLICE-CITIZEN KILLINGS IN US URBAN AREAS

There appears to be general consensus in law enforcement circles that less-than-lethal weapons are effective in reducing police-citizen kill ings, but this ''common wisdom '' has not been subject to systematic e mpirical analysis. Considering a large sample of U.S. cities for 1990, this article examines the association between the availability to the police of various types of less-than lethal weapons and general and r ace-specific justifiable homicide rates. The analysis produces no evid ence that police killing rates are affected by the availability of les s-than-lethal weapons.