Police De-escalation:

Use-of-Force Continuum State Maps

Developed by Texas Legal Services Center and Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Law enforcement violence is a critical public health issue. Police violence results in disproportionate rates of deaths, injuries, trauma, and stress in marginalized communities¹. Training and statutory requirements on the use-of-force continuum can help mitigate police violence. The use-of-force continuum is defined as a restriction of the “most severe types of force to the most extreme situations with clear policy restrictions on the use of each police weapon and tactic”².

You can click on the maps below to view training and statutory use-of-force continuum requirements by state.

Training Requirements

Statutory Definitions

We have done our best to include all relevant information, but we're only human. Did our researchers get something wrong? Leave something out? Miss an update? Let us know.

¹ Addressing Law Enforcement Violence as a Public Health Issue, Aᴍᴇʀɪᴄᴀɴ Pᴜʙʟɪᴄ Hᴇᴀʟᴛʜ Assᴏᴄɪᴀᴛɪᴏɴ (Aug. 18, 2021, 2:47PM), https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2019/01/29/law-enforcement-violence.

² 8 Cᴀɴ'ᴛ Wᴀɪᴛ, https://8cantwait.org/ (last visited Aug. 18, 2021).