Chauvin is Not the First White Officer to Be Convicted of Murdering a Black Person

Misbar’s investigation has discovered that while the historic nature of the Chauvin trial verdict should not be diminished, it is inaccurate to claim that it is the first instance of a white police officer being convicted of murdering a black person. USA Today has highlighted at least three other instances of police officers being convicted of murder in the last decade (It also lists several instances of manslaughter, which strictly speaking, is not a murder conviction.)

LeVar Burton, whose initial tweet gained about 12,000 likes, also acknowledged that he was mistaken in this case. His correction notes that there have been fewer than 12 convictions of white officers being convicted for murdering black people. Burton’s inability to name an exact figure is due to the lack of available data. 

Many have stated that this is the first instance in the history of the State of Minnesota where a white police officer has been convicted of murdering a black person, which appears to be true. However, the lack of data available prior to 2005 may mean that this is not a fact, even if such convictions are rare. 

Our analysis has shown that prior to 2005, it is difficult to analyze figures of police officer caused crime. Since 2005, Bowling Green State University has been compiling this data and has provided police-caused crime related statistics to news sources, which has improved reporting. But prior to this, the figures are almost impossible to identify. 

Since 2005, 121 officers have been arrested for murder or manslaughter, according to The New York Times. However, of these cases, 95 have concluded, with only 44 resulting in a conviction. And in many of these instances, the officers were convicted not of murder but of lesser charges. Additionally, this data does not highlight how race factored into the convictions. 

One source shows why many may believe that Chauvin’s conviction was the first instance of a white police officer being convicted of murdering a black person. The US government runs the Bureau of Justice Statistics. It is supposed to be the primary source of criminal justice statistics in America, yet our investigation could not identify a specific report on convictions of police officers, or even wrongful killings by police. It has some other data that is out of date and does not highlight this information in an accessible manner. For example, it has a data collection on Arrest-Related Deaths, yet it has not released a new publication since 2016. These reports provide no information on police officer convictions. Additionally, its most recent policing and homicide report dates to the year 2001. This report highlighted data from 1976 to 1998, and it only lists eight incidents of police officers being convicted of murder during this time.

This shows that while it is incorrect that the Chauvin verdict marks the first white officer to be convicted of murdering a black person, this is largely due to lack of available data.