U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
National Institute of Justice
Research for
P r a c t i c e
The Effectiveness and Safety of Pepper Spray
03
APR.
U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
810 Seventh Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20531
John Ashcroft
Attorney General
Deborah J. Daniels
Assistant Attorney General
Sarah V. Hart
Director, National Institute of Justice
This and other publications and products of
the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Jus-
tice Programs, National Institute of Justice
can be found on the World Wide Web at the
following site:
Office of Justice Programs
National Institute of Justice
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij
Findings and conclusions of the research reported here are those of
the authors and do not reflect the official position or policies of the
U.S. Department of Justice.
The North Carolina study discussed in this report, “An Evaluation of
Oleoresin Capsicum (O.C.) Use by Law Enforcement Agencies: Impact on
Injuries to Officers and Suspects,” by J. Michael Bowling and Monica
Gaines, was supported by NIJ under award number 1997–LB–VX–K018.
The in-custody deaths study discussed in this report, “Deaths in Police
Confrontation When Oleoresin Capsicum is Used,” by Charles S. Petty,
was supported by NIJ under purchase order number 2001–M7–56.
APR. 03
The Effectiveness and Safety of Pepper Spray
Comments regarding this
Research for Practice
may be e-mailed to
askost@ojp.usdoj.gov or
sent by postal mail to
LTL Program Manager,
National Institute of Justice,
810 Seventh Street N.W.,
Washington, DC 20531.
To learn more about NIJ’s
less-than-lethal research
and development pro-
gram, visit http://www.
ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/
sciencetech/ltl.htm.
NCJ 195739
ii
R E S E A R C H F O R P R A C T I C E / A P R . 0 3
ABOUT THIS REPORT
This report presents the find-
ings from two recent unpub-
lished NIJ-funded studies
that used different method-
ologies to test pepper spray’s
safety and effectiveness.
One study looked at officer
and suspect injuries in three
North Ca