Nihilism is an Underlying Condition for Death in Police Custody
Non-whites are disproportionately killed during police encounters and these murders are rarely prosecuted. The medical examiner system in the United States plays an integral, but often overlooked, role in determining whether police are charged for these deaths. Yet, medical examiner/coroner reports rarely establish police culpability even when evidence indicates otherwise. In this talk Keel draws upon a collaborative study of death in police custody over the last 20 years and explains how the entanglement of law enforcement, the malleability of medical examination and forensic science, legal practices governing access to public records along with a constant climate of social and ethical nihilism are underlying conditions that produce death while in police custody in the United States.