Deaths in custody revisited

Abstract

This study has surveyed deaths that have occurred while in police custody in Metropolitan Dade County from 1956 to 1982. Cases were then subdivided by age, race, sex, cause, and manner of death as well as place of death or incident leading to the victim's demise. The results of this study indicate that natural disease--predominantly cardiocerebral vascular and alcohol-related--was most common followed by suicides and accidents. The natural deaths occurred in an older age group, whereas suicides occurred in a younger age group. Racially, most deaths in all categories involved white people. Accidents were given an historical perspective with an admonition to the reader to document all findings should a case be presented to them. Homicides and unclassified deaths were infrequent and axiomatically a function of the facilities studied.