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Bill O Reilly cites faulty data for claim about shooting deaths of blacks whites by police PunditFact
O’Reilly’s reference of the number of whites killed in legal interventions does not strictly account for non-Hispanic whites. People who identify as Hispanic are also counted in the total of 326 deaths.
Running the search again for whites but excluding Hispanics leaves 227 deaths from legal interventions -- substantially fewer deaths due to the absence of 97 white Hispanics previously in the mix (in the black category, two were identified as black Hispanic).
"So if you are interested in people of color, what they list in the white data is too high," Walker said of O’Reilly’s figures.
Additionally, the per capita rate of black deaths per 100,000 residents is .28, which is twice as high as the rate for white deaths of .13, Walker points out.
Our ruling
O’Reilly said, 123 African-Americans and 326 white people were shot dead by police in 2012.
He referenced recent federal numbers but failed to mention their well-documented flaws. We have not found any experts who will vouch for numbers that purport to represent annual fatal shootings by police, as there are gaping holes within each dataset.
Additionally, the number of white people fatally shot by police in 2012 is substantially off if you account for white Hispanics -- a group O’Reilly did not seem to have in mind during his rant about race relations between blacks and whites.
O’Reilly’s statement contains an element of truth, but it’s not the full picture he makes it out to be. We rate the claim Mostly False.
O’Reilly’s reference of the number of whites killed in legal interventions does not strictly account for non-Hispanic whites. People who identify as Hispanic are also counted in the total of 326 deaths.
Running the search again for whites but excluding Hispanics leaves 227 deaths from legal interventions -- substantially fewer deaths due to the absence of 97 white Hispanics previously in the mix (in the black category, two were identified as black Hispanic).
"So if you are interested in people of color, what they list in the white data is too high," Walker said of O’Reilly’s figures.
Additionally, the per capita rate of black deaths per 100,000 residents is .28, which is twice as high as the rate for white deaths of .13, Walker points out.
Our ruling
O’Reilly said, 123 African-Americans and 326 white people were shot dead by police in 2012.
He referenced recent federal numbers but failed to mention their well-documented flaws. We have not found any experts who will vouch for numbers that purport to represent annual fatal shootings by police, as there are gaping holes within each dataset.
Additionally, the number of white people fatally shot by police in 2012 is substantially off if you account for white Hispanics -- a group O’Reilly did not seem to have in mind during his rant about race relations between blacks and whites.
O’Reilly’s statement contains an element of truth, but it’s not the full picture he makes it out to be. We rate the claim Mostly False.
