Blacks and whites differ widely in their perceptions of equality under the criminal justice system in America — and the divide is just as stark among white Republicans and Democrats, according to a new
Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The survey of 1,012 adults conducted Dec. 11-15 found that 89 percent of African-Americans said that they believed blacks and other minorities do not receive equal treatment in the criminal justice system as do whites.
Only 10 percent of the African Americans responding agreed with that statement, survey found.
But among whites, 52 percent said they believed that minorities do receive equal treatment, compared with 44 percent who said they do not.
When considering political affiliation among whites, 66 percent of Republicans said they believe that African Americans and other minorities are treated as equally as whites, compared with only 30 percent of Democrats.
The Post-ABC survey, which has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, was undertaken after a grand jury in Staten Island, N.Y., decided on Dec. 3 to not indict a white New York City police officer in the July 17 chokehold death of Eric Garner, 43, an unarmed black man who was selling loose cigarettes.
The decision came nine days after a similar panel in Ferguson, Missouri, moved to not indict a white police officer in the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown, 18, an African-American man who also was unarmed.
The deaths were referenced on social media by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who fatally shot two New York City police officers, execution style, as they sat in their marked squad car on Dec. 20 in Brooklyn.
Brinsley, 28, who had a long criminal history, later killed himself as police closed in on him on a nearby subway platform.
One of the slain officers, Rafael Ramos, 40, was laid to rest on Saturday. Hundreds of officers attending the funeral turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio as he spoke.
Police union officials
have accused the mayor and the Rev. Al Sharpton of fostering a negative climate toward officers that contributed to the deaths.
Vice President Joe Biden also addressed the gathering, as did New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Services for the second dead officer, Wenjian Liu, 32, have not yet been announced. Ramos and Liu were the first New York officers to die in the line of duty since 2011.
The Post-ABC News poll, however, found some common ground among the various groups surveyed.
For instance, majorities — by race and party affiliation — said that they would support requiring police officers to wear body cameras and that they would back investigations of police killings of unarmed civilians by a special prosecutor.