State violence

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State violence describes the use of governmental authority to cause deliberate harm and suffering to groups and individuals with the goal of implicitly or explicitly maintaining power; genocide, torture, war crimes, police brutality, and other forms of systemic oppression. - The Learning Network, adapted by Michelle Xie [1]


Simply put, state violence is violence approved or funded by the government, most often targeting marginalized groups. [2]



Examples of state violence

Over-policing and murders of marginalized groups

  • Indigenous land defenders are criminalized for exercising their right to defend their unceded territory, or their right to free, prior and informed consent, significantly more than white settlers. [3]
  • Despite the fact Black people represent only about 8.8% of the city of Toronto's population, they represented almost a third of all charges. A black person in Toronto is 20 times more likely to be shot and killed by police than a white person. [4]

Overfunding and arming of police

  • Police budgets often take up the greatest portion of municipal budgets. In so-called Canada, cities' police budget range from 1/10th (i.e. Toronto) to 1/3rd (i.e. Surrey, B.C) of municipal budgets. [5]
  • "Policing has become increasingly militarized across North America, where raids, SWAT teams and high artillery weapons are sources of trauma and violence against Black communities in particular." -Defund the police [6]



If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.


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