After Jena 6 Noose Case, More Blacks Feel Courts Are Unfair

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In the wake of the Jena 6 noose case, CNN polled black and white Americans and found they continue to have widely different views of race relations in this country. Blacks' increased attention to perceived judicial inequities at least partly explains the furor in the black community over the Jena 6 case.

See the DiversityInc Noose Watch for regular updates on noose-hanging incidents across the country and how local and federal officials are responding to them. 

The poll found that more blacks pay attention to news stories that imply the justice system is unfair to blacks. Here are a few key findings:

• Of the total respondents, 35 percent of whites compared with 10 percent of blacks said that they did not know enough about the Jena 6 case to respond to questions
• Seventy-nine percent of blacks compared with 33 percent of whites knew enough about the case to say that the six black teenagers in Jena, La., were treated unfairly by the town's justice system
• Twenty-nine percent of whites and 10 percent of blacks thought that the black teenagers were treated fairly

The poll conducted for CNN by Opinion Research Corp. included 1,212 telephone interviews from Oct. 12 to Oct. 14 with adult Americans, including an over-sample of blacks, reported CNN.

The question of whether race relations will improve in America nearly split black respondents, with slightly more saying they will not improve. Of black respondents, 49 percent said race relations will improve, while 51 percent said they will not. Meanwhile, most white respondents thought race relations will improve; 66 percent said they will and 33 percent said they will not.

When blacks were asked if they felt whites or blacks were treated more harshly by the justice system, an overwhelming majority of black respondents, 79 percent, said that blacks are treated more harshly than whites. Only 19 percent of black respondents said the justice system treats blacks the same as whites and only 1 percent said whites are treated more harshly.

Whites, however, are nearly split on the question of who is treated more harshly by the justice system. While 48 percent of white respondents feel the justice system treats blacks and whites the same, 47 percent feel the justice system treats blacks more harshly and 3 percent think whites are treated more harshly.

(See also: Dark-Skinned Blacks at Hiring Disadvantage, New Data Reveals)  

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