Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy

I did not know this when I read the book, but in 2007, the author started a blog on the LA Times site called Homicide Report, an attempt to chronicle every one of the 845 homicide deaths that took place in Los Angeles County that year. The blog takes a sober, data-driven approach to this most emotive of subjects. She is a decades long crime reported, and already had strong connections with LAPD homicide detectives, which she used to flesh out the entries in the LA county coroner’s database, trying to understand the reasons why people kill and are killed. She also reported on the race of victims--blacks are 8% of the population in Los Angeles, but account for 32% of the murder victims. Who is killing black people? The answer is: mainly other black people. Roiled by a new movement against police brutality, the US is currently burying its head in the sand so as not to have to face up to the disproportionate violence meted out to black Americans by law enforcement. She chooses to tell stories from the most notorious neighborhood in LA, and she does so sympathetically to all involved. This is a detailed look into the workings of an intersection between poverty, racism, crime, and law enforcement that is well worth reading.