Updated 12/28/2015.

In the wake of a number of shootings of African Americans by police, and the subsequent controversies and protests that have erupted as many of these cases have not resulting in indictments of the officers involved, PRRI tapped newly our newly-released American Values Survey to examine the vastly different attitudes white and black Americans have about the police and the criminal justice system.

A chasm separates black and white Americans’ attitudes toward the police. Blacks are nearly four times as likely as whites to say that police mistreatment is a major problem in their community: 64 percent vs. 17 percent, respectively. Similarly, less than half (48 percent) of blacks have a great deal or some confidence in the police, compared to 83 percent of whites who report being confident in the law enforcement.

Whites and blacks also view the recent police killings of African American men very differently. About two-thirds (65 percent) of whites say recent killings of African American men by police are isolated incidents, while only 15 percent of black Americans say the same. More than eight in ten (81 percent) black Americans say recent police killings of African American men are part of a broader pattern of how police treat African Americans.

For more, read “Anxiety, Nostalgia, and Mistrust: Findings from the 2015 American Values Survey.”