BOSTON ― A Harvard University survey released Wednesday found that nearly one in two millennials believe America’s criminal justice system is unfair and few believe protests triggered by the killings of Black men at the hands of police will make a significant difference.
The findings, from a survey of 18-to-29-year-olds conducted from March 18 to April 1, come as anger over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Baltimore man who suffered a spinal cord injury in police custody, turned violent this week.
Rioters looted and burned businesses in the Maryland city and clashed with police after Gray’s funeral Monday, prompting Gov. Larry Hogan to deploy the National Guard. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake imposed a weeklong curfew.
John Della Volpe, director of polling at Harvard’s Institute of Politics, said the findings suggest young people are genuinely interested in seeing real change in the criminal justice system—not just rhetoric.
“What I think they’re asking us through this data is to have a meaningful, non-ideological conversation about this,” he said. “Even before the violence in Baltimore, you only had a minority of 18-to-29-year-olds believing the protests would create change.”
The survey polled more than 3,000 millennials across the country.
It showed about 49 percent of millennials have little to no confidence that the judicial system can fairly judge people without bias for race and ethnicity. Another 49 percent have “some” to “a lot” of confidence in the judicial system.
