Black Supporters of the No-Discrimination Thesis in Criminal Justice

Abstract

This study examined a national sample of more than 600 Black Americans and their views on bias in the American criminal justice system. The research found that 26% of the Black respondents did not believe there was bias in the American criminal justice system. To explore the segment of respondents holding these views, we separated the sample into Blacks who believe there is bias in the system (referred to as the discrimination thesis or DT supporters) and those who opposed this belief (referred to as the no-discrimination thesis or NDT supporters). The NDT supporters were more likely to be younger, male, less educated, and have lower income than those respondents who supported the DT. NDT supporters were also more likely to believe that Blacks and Whites had equal job opportunities, have more confidence in the police, and believe that racism was not widespread.