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By Denise A. Herd, University of California, Berkeley

, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.

It’s been one year since George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer set off the 

Beyond the protests, every police killing — indeed, every violent act by police toward civilians — can have painful and widespread consequences.

Each year, U.S. police kill about 1,000 people, which equals 

. This risk is greater for Black men, who are 

about 2.5 times more likely to be killed by the police than white men

The effects of these killings ripple from the individual victim to their families and local communities as they cope with the permanence of injury, death and loss. 

 have demonstrated higher-than-usual rates of depression, 

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Public health research I am conducting with 

my research team at the University of California, Berkeley

 finds that the harm from police killings of Black people goes beyond the people and places directly involved in these incidents to affect Black Americans far from the site of the killing, who may have never met the victim. 

Evidence shows that many Black Americans across the U.S. experience police killings of other Black people as 

, and that this trauma diminishes the ability of Black communities to thrive.

One of the key studies illustrating this ripple effect of police killings on the mental health of Black Americans was 

published in the medical journal The Lancet in 2018

Boston University researchers surveyed 103,710 people in the U.S. to measure the relationship between police killings and Americans’ mental health. 

Among survey respondents, each police-related fatality of an unarmed Black person in the state where they lived was associated with an increase in the number of days when 

 relating to stress, depression or emotional issues.

The trauma of watching another Black person die

The authors estimated that the cumulative impact of U.S. police killings of unarmed Black people could add up to 55 million additional poor mental health days for the 

Police killings of armed Black people did not elicit the same distress among Black Americans. And white Americans suffered no additional poor mental health days, as defined by the researchers, after exposure to police killings — no matter the circumstances or race of the victim.

The authors speculated that historical and institutional patterns of systematic, targeted violence against Black people — combined with a general lack of legal consequences when police officers commit such crimes — make the killings of unarmed Black people particularly stressful for Black Americans.

“Racism, like trauma, can be experienced vicariously,” they concluded.

 substantiates the Boston University’s mental health findings. 

Scouring emergency department admission records in 75 counties in five U.S. states, researchers found that within three months following a police killing of an unarmed Black person in the county in which they reside, Black Americans sought treatment at local emergency departments for depressive symptoms 

Black women experience acute fear that their children will be harmed by the police. 

Those who expressed beliefs that Black youth are at higher risk for having negative police experiences 

 to report symptoms of depression during their pregnancy than other women, according to one study from 2017. 

Depression during pregnancy can increase the risks for health problems for both parent and child, including newborns with low birth weight or premature delivery — both 

. Depression during pregnancy also puts new mothers at 

Police killings can also directly harm the mental health of young people of color. According to Brendesha Tynes’ 2019 study, exposure to viral videos of police killings is associated with symptoms of depression and 

Police killings and other negative encounters with police create a climate of fear in Black communities that 

For example, aggressive policing can cause fear and excessive watchfulness among Black Americans that, at elevated levels, are 

. A New York City-based research team found in 2016 that in neighborhoods where police engaged in the invasive practice of “stop and frisk,” residents were more likely to have not only 

 but to also suffer from diabetes, get asthma attacks and be overweight. 

A 2016 study conducted in 75 metropolitan areas across the U.S. found that a police killing of a Black person in the area the year prior was associated with a 

 and a 4 percent rise in gonorrhea rates — perhaps, the authors suggest, because the associated psychological stress leads to riskier sexual behavior. Fear of a police run-in and distrust of institutions might also lead people in these areas to avoid medical services.

The Conversation’s most important politics headlines

Police violence in a given neighborhood is also linked to lower trust in government, 

less frequent voting and higher crime rates

. It decreases residents’ perception of their ability to stand together and control 

Many people in heavily policed neighborhoods see negative police encounters as forms of discrimination or racism — both of which are scientifically documented to 

“People understand that this system is filled with all sorts of inequality and injustice, and that implicit bias and just outright racism is embedded in the 

 in this nation,” said Opal Tometi, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, in a recent interview with the New Yorker. It amounts to “a war on Black life.”

Ultimately, the cumulative impact of harmful policing can shred the social fabric of Black neighborhoods and drain Black people and their communities of the health and social resources they need to live healthy lives.

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The murder of George Floyd

Evidence shows that many Black Americans across the U.S. experience police killings of other Black people as traumatic events, and that this trauma diminishes the ability of Black communities to thrive.

Pain of police killings ripples outward to traumatize Black people and communities across U.S.

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