CNN / ORC Poll finds racial divide on police, justice system

By Z. Byron Wolf, CNN

Updated 1:43 PM ET, Mon December 22, 2014

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CNN / ORC poll released Monday shows a startling racial divide on the issue of police and the justice system
More than half of whites say the police in their area are not racist
Just one quarter of non-whites feel the same way

There is a defined racial divide in America between how whites and non-whites view police and the criminal justice system, according to a CNN / ORC poll released Monday.

More than half of white Americans - 57% - think none or almost none of the police in their area are prejudiced against blacks. Just one quarter of non-white Americans feel the same way.

The survey, which was mostly conducted before the shooting of NYPD Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in New York over the weekend, found similar results on perceptions of the justice system as a whole. While 41% of Americans say the criminal justice system treats blacks fairly, far more whites - 50% - see equity. Among non-whites, that figure drops to just 21%. Two-thirds of non-whites said that the criminal justice system favors whites over blacks.

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