AARP Eye Center
Do You Think the Justice System Is Biased? Depends on Your Age
By Tamara Lytle, July 24, 2013 03:39 PM
Is there bias in the U.S. criminal justice system? Unpublished data from a recent Gallup poll point up marked differences in views divided not only by race but also by age.
Forty-one percent of 18- to 29-year-olds thought the justice system was biased against blacks. The number dropped to 32 percent for 50- to 64-year-olds and to 26 percent for age 65 and older. (That 15 percentage point difference between the oldest and youngest generations has narrowed by 21 points in five years.)
The gap by race was even wider. Sixty-eight percent of African Americans of all ages said the system was biased, compared with 25 percent of white Americans.
Gallup: Age Divide Narrows on Hot-Button Social Issues
The poll was conducted after a jury found George Zimmerman not guilty of killing Trayvon Martin. That specific verdict also triggered divides by age and race. Who thought the verdict was correct? Only 31 percent of the youngest generation of adults, 45 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds, and 55 percent of the oldest Americans.
Among all ages, 54 percent of whites agreed with the verdict, compared with only 7 percent of blacks.
Photo by Carptrash via Wikimedia
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