Data Source: Compiled by the Prison Policy Initiative from Gallup's Annual "Confidence in Institutions" survey series. (Graph: Rachel Gandy, 2015)
This graph originally appeared in One institution, two different views: How Black and White Americans regard the police.
Each year, Gallup asks a random sample of U.S. adults the following question: "I am going to read you a list of institutions in American society. Please tell me how much confidence you, yourself, have in each one-a great deal, quite a lot, some, or very little: the police?" This graph shows the percentage of people by race who answered that they had "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in the police. Whites consistently report higher levels of confidence in the police than the average American, while Blacks report markedly lower confidence levels than the average American.
Events
- March 19, 2025:
Join Prison Policy Initiative’s Advocacy Department at 1 PM EST on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, for a webinar about understanding recidivism. We will cover strategies from our recidivism toolkit, including an overview of recidivism statistics and what they really mean, how to combat the “Willie Horton” effect, and ways that advocates can transform the narrative around reentry to make it less focused on negative outcomes and more focused on the ways that returning citizens contribute to their communities.
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