The Gallup release, headlined “Fewer Americans Call for Tougher Criminal Justice System,” reports on new polling number concerning pubic views on the US criminal justice system. As summarized by Professor Doug Berman in his Sentencing blog Here are the details:

Americans’ belief that the U.S. criminal justice system is “not tough enough” on crime is now half of what it was in Gallup’s initial reading of 83% in 1992.  The latest measure, at 41%, is the lowest on record and down slightly from the previous reading in 2016 — although it remains the view of the plurality.  At the same time, there has been a seven-percentage-point uptick among those who say the system is “too tough” (21%) and no change among those who think it is “about right” (35%).

Americans’ perceptions of whether the criminal justice system in the U.S. is too tough, not tough enough or about right in its handling of crime since 1992.  The percentage saying it is not tough enough has fallen from 83% in 1992 to 41% now.  At the same time, the percentage saying it is about right has risen from 12% in 1992 to the current 35%, and those who think it is too tough has increased from 2% in 1992 to 21% now.

Across the five times Gallup has asked this question since 1992, when public perceptions of national and local crime rates were at or near their highest points, there has been a steady decrease in the percentage saying the system is not tough enough and increases in the percentages saying it is too tough or about right.  These changes coincide with declines in crime rates in the U.S.  The latest reading is from Gallup’s annual Crime poll, conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 15, 2020.

Americans’ faith in the U.S. criminal justice system remains low according to Gallup’s 2020 Confidence in Institutions poll conducted earlier this year, and confidence in one element of that system — the police — fell to a record-low level in the same poll.  This decline in confidence in the police followed several high-profile deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police officers, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks.

Views of the criminal justice system vary by party identification and racial background.  A 58% majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the criminal justice system is not tough enough.  However, this view is shared by less than half as many Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (25%), while 37% think the system is about right and 35% too tough.

More White Americans than non-White Americans say the justice system is not tough enough on crime (45% vs. 31%, respectively).  The plurality of non-White adults, 40%, think it is about right, while 26% believe it is too tough.

Americans across these four party and racial subgroups have become significantly less likely to say the criminal justice system is not tough enough, but it has declined the most among Democrats, falling from 62% in 2000 to 25% today.  Over the same period, Democrats’ view that the system is too tough has grown from 6% to 35%.

Given two options for approaches to lowering the U.S. crime rate, more Americans prefer putting money and effort into addressing social and economic problems such as drug addiction, homelessness and mental health (63%) rather than putting money and effort into strengthening law enforcement (34%).