Ever since the tragic death of Michael Brown in August of last year we have seen a countless number of videos exposing U.S. law enforcement’s unequal treatment of its citizens. This is not to say it only began then, but since the high beams have been turned on we’re just far more aware of it.

We know that the U.S. has a rather liberal take on people’s rights to bear arms but the statistics below do not paint a pretty picture. These courtesy of the Mail and Guardian:

In the first 24 days of 2015, US police shot dead 59 people. UK and Wales police have shot dead 54 people in the past 24 years.

There were 97 fatal shootings by US police in March 2015 compared with 94 by Australian police from 1992 to 2011.

Let’s then look how the U.S. compares to South Africa:

A police officer in SA in 2013 was twice as likely to kill someone as in the US.

A police officer in SA in 2013 was 4.3 times more likely to be killed than in the US.

Statistics such as these are very difficult to report with absolute accuracy, but those numbers above do not make for pretty reading. Of course South Africa does have a reputation for violent crimes:

South Africa is much more violent than the US. In 2013, 17 068 homicides were recorded in South Africa compared with 16 121 in the US. You’re about six times more likely to be murdered in South Africa.

The Guardian do have a feature where you can track the exact amount of people killed by police in the U.S. (HERE) if you’re so inclined. It makes for interesting reading and you might find yourself surprised by one or two of the statistics.

[sources:mg&guardian]