Explaining the Great Racial Divide: Perceptions of Fairness in the U.S. Criminal Justice System

Hurwitz, Jon; Peffley, Mark

doi:10.1111/j.1468-2508.2005.00338.x

Explaining the Great Racial Divide: Perceptions of Fairness in the U.S. Criminal Justice System

We examine the huge racial divide in citizens' general beliefs about the fairness of the criminal justice system, focusing on the political consequences of these beliefs for shaping diverging interpretations of police behavior. Predictably, most blacks believe the system to be unfair and most whi…