To control opportunities for the use of deadly force, institutions and their organization must be altered, whereas to control decisions to use it, organizations must manage them. Some major ways to control the use of deadly force by structuring opportunities and decisions are explored. Restricting opportunities for legitimate use of force appears effective in reducing its use and the harmful consequences of injury and death. Current decision models for managing the use of deadly force rely too much upon a micromodel detailing the sequential 'choice' points in decisions to use deadly force. Such models have distinct limits. Among the more serious ones are that they ignore the ways that the use of deadly force in police encounters with citizens may be averted or precluded and of how the behavior of police organizations can effect its use. Factors to be considered in structuring strategies to reduce the use of deadly force include the probability of eliminating the need for force through early intervention in stressful situations; the efficacy of epidemiological prevention models for early intervention techniques; and the need for less information for decisionmaking in models that emphasize control over situational elements, rather than control over individually determined causal sequences. Six footnotes are included. For related articles, see NCJ 75304. (Author abstract modified)