A new Harvard University survey found that nearly 1 in 2 millennials believe the U.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 Associated Press reports. The findings, from a survey of 18-to-29 year-olds from March 18 to April 1, come as anger over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Baltimore resident, turned violent this week.
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 of more than 3,000 millennials found that 49 percent 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.