American confidence in courts is low and deeply split along racial lines

Evidence

Gallup Poll found that only 27 percent of Americans had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the criminal justice system, while 34 percent had “very little or none”. Many Americans see courts as too lenient in their sentencing of criminals, although the percentage holding this view has declined over time, but they also (inconsistently?) believe that too many people are in prison, and they tend to favor alternatives to incarceration for those convicted of property crimes or non-violent offenses. A majority of Americans say that courts are not even-handed in dispensing justice. According to a 2014 ABC/ Washington Post poll, 54 percent of Americans believed that blacks and other minorities do not receive equal treatment in the criminal justice system. Underlying these figures are stark racial differences in perceptions of American criminal justice. For example, following the “not guilty” verdict in the 2013 trial of George Zimmerman, a white neighborhood-watch volunteer who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, 51 percent of whites approved of the verdict, whereas only 9 percent of blacks and 24 percent of Hispanics did so. Popular confidence in the legal profession is also low—since 1984, the percentage of respondents voicing “a great deal of trust” in law firms has never exceeded 17 percent. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 80

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to course theme of whether courts deliver equal justice and the fairness/equality values; the Zimmerman verdict gap parallels modern survey data on racialized trust in institutions. — connects to: Public confidence in American courts and lawyers is strikingly low — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 98; Anti-minority discrimination spikes when confidence in American institutions is low — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 285; Reducing racial inequity in courts requires institutional systems, not just attitude change. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 37
• QUESTION: Worth tracing whether these racial perception gaps have shifted since 2013 and what explains the white/black divergence on the same verdict.

Broader Connections

• Reducing racial inequity in courts requires institutional systems, not just attitude change. #responds-to (0.75) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 37
• Anti-minority discrimination spikes when confidence in American institutions is low #expands (0.72) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 285