G.U.'S Laughlin Awarded Grant For Research On Lethal Force Used By Law Enforcement

Published: April 13, 2021

The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy has awarded Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Michael Laughlin $9,000 to support his research on racial disparity in police killings.

The funding comes in two parts: $7,500 in grant money and $1,500 as part of the Donald R. Cressey Award, a special award for work focused on criminal justice and penology practices. Laughlins name appears on the Foundations list of 2017 awardees announced last May.

Laughlin is scheduled to graduate with his doctorate in public affairs from the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri in Spring 2019.

Though many studies examine the use of lethal force by law enforcement, Laughlin says gaps in current data present an incomplete picture. He hopes research associated with his dissertation will fill that void with more accurate, data-supported information.

A case in point: As of 2016, he says, [no studies] have used the complete population of law enforcement killings within the U.S. for an entire year. Laughlins work focuses on 2014 data.

Laughlin worked with a team of graduate students from University of Missouri on creating a new database of law enforcements intentional use of lethal force that should prove more accurate and more reliable than current databanks.

Sam Barnhardt, a 2018 G.U. graduate who double majored in criminal justice and psychology, also assisted with organizing data.

Laughlin believes even more complete data would prove useful, like contextual factors surrounding the incidents (e.g., location, time, type of incident, whether the person was armed or unarmed) and details about the persons involved, including the race of the officers who used force and the race of the persons killed.

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