Criminologist Franklin Zimring on Reforming Police Use of Force

An estimated 1,000 Americans are killed by police each year. Of those 1,000 only 600 are armed with a gun, black men are killed at a rate double their proportion of the U.S. population, and only one officer will be convicted of a felony. In his new book “When Police Kill,” Berkeley criminologist Franklin Zimring argues that increasing the conviction rate of police won’t prevent unnecessary killings and that reform efforts should focus on new leadership and placing restrictions on when police shoot. In this hour, we’ll talk with Zimring about his analysis of the use of lethal force and discuss how killings by police can be reduced while still protecting the lives of enforcement officers.