Race, Fatal Police Shootings, and Prosocial Behavior: Evidence From The United States

We analyze how fatal police shootings in the U.S. influence prosocial behavior by 14,383 U.S.-based volunteer crisis counselors over five years (n=28,262,595 volunteer-days). We find that fatal police shootings significantly reduce prosocial behavior, and this effect is 16 times larger when the victim of the shooting is Black (vs. non-Black).