DECEMBER
Dec. 2
The Washington Post website reported that a guard at New York City' s troubled jail Rikers Island "savagely" kicked an ailing inmate to death four years ago, before persuading fellow guards to lie about what happened.
Dec. 6
The Washington Post website reported that, in the afternoon on December 4, Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, was alleged to have entered the Comet Ping Pong pizza restaurant in Northwest Washington and terrorized the place with a semiautomatic rifle. Welch surrendered and walked backward out of the pizzeria unarmed and with his hands up. Police did not shoot him. But that didn't work for African American Terence Crutcher, 40, who had his hands up and back turned, and he was unarmed, but was shot and killed by Tulsa police in September. A Washington Post report on police shootings in 2015 found that black Americans were 2.5 times as likely to be shot and killed by police as white Americans. Unarmed black men were five times as likely to be shot and killed by police as unarmed white men.
Dec. 8
The Santa Fe New Mexican website reported that, on December 5, three children were shot dead inside their Albuquerque home. The three were aged from five to nine. Investigators said they were killed by their mother's ex-boyfriend and their mother tried to save them.
On the same day, the Washington Post website reported that two police officers were killed in shooting near the campus of a Georgia university. The suspected shooter was found dead.
The USA Today website also reported, on the night of December 6, Giants fullback Nikita Whitlock had his home marked with "KKK" letters and the words "Go back to Africa" while he was away. "Racism is real and instead of close to home this time they came inside. My family is safe but we are saddened by the hate," Whitlock said, adding that it was the second time in the last few weeks when his place was broken into. The last time happened during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Dec. 11
According to the gunviolencearchive.org website, as of December 11, 2016, the total number of gun violence and crime incidents was 54,322, including 364 mass shooting incidents, causing total deaths of 14,027 and 28,844 injuries. 640 children aged 0 to 11 were killed or injured, and 2,921 teens aged 12 to 17 were killed or injured.
On the same day, the Washington Post website reported that as of 22:00, December 11, 896 people were shot dead by police in 2016. More than a third of them fled from officers and under a third of them were under age 30.
Dec. 12
The Washington Post website reported that President Barack Obama on Dec. 12 turned down a request from some senators to declassify a Senate report documenting the CIA's harsh treatment of detainees after 9/11. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, top Democrat on the Senate's intelligence panel, said "It's my very strong belief that one day this report should be declassified." "This must be a lesson learned: that torture doesn't work."
Dec. 14
The San Francisco Gate website reported that 73-year-old Francisco Serna walked out of his home and into his driveway shortly after police arrived. When Serna, who was unarmed, did not comply with officers' orders to remove his hands from his jacket pocket, one officer fired seven shots at him, killing him. Serna's family members said he was suffering from the early stages of dementia.
Dec. 19
The Washington Post website reported that a U.S. prosecutor told a federal jury the former head of the nation's largest sheriff's department was the driving force behind a conspiracy to thwart a federal investigation into beating by guards and other abuses at the Los Angeles County jail system. The conspiracy by ex-Sheriff Lee Baca and his aides deprived inmates who were beaten of justice and allowed deputies to escape accountability. The corruption probed led to convictions of 20 members of Baca' s department, including nine on obstruction-related charges.
On the same day, at the 71st UN's General Assembly, the United States voted against draft resolutions related to human rights including "Human rights and unilateral coercive measures," "Promotion of a democratic and equitable international order," and "Declaration on the right to peace."
Dec. 20
Bureau of Justice Statistics revealed that in 2014, 1,053 inmates died in local jails. This was an eight percent increase from 2013 and the largest number of deaths reported by the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP) since 2008. Causes of death Suicide was the leading cause of death in local jails in 2014, and accounted for 35 percent of all deaths in 2014. The number of suicides in 2014 grew by 13 percent than 2013. Respiratory disease deaths increased 32 percent from 2013 to 2014.In 2014, there were 3,927 inmate deaths in state and federal prisons, the largest number of inmate deaths reported in state and federal prisons since DCRP began collecting data in 2001. Of the total deaths, 3,483 were in state prisons and 444 in federal prisons. The number of deaths in 2014 in federal prisons rose by 11 percent than 2013. In state prisons, AIDS-related deaths increased 23 percent, and the number of suicides increased by 30 percent from 2013 to 2014.
Dec. 31
The Washington Post website reported that 963 people have been shot and killed by police in 2016. According to monthly statistics, in 2016, the U.S. police shot 81 people dead in January; 86 in February; 92 in March; 73 in April; 74 in May; 92 in June; 72 in July; 82 in August; 78 in September; 77 in October; 78 in November; and 78 in December.
