Almost all in US want criminal justice reform, poll says. What do they want changed?

As protests continue around the country following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in Minneapolis police custody, a new poll shows that nearly all Americans support criminal justice reform of some kind.

Ninety-five percent of Americans say criminal justice reform is necessary, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The survey, conducted June 11-15, showed 29% believe in a complete overhaul, 40% say there should be major changes, 25% say there should be minor changes, and 5% say no changes are needed.

The majority of the 1,310 survey participants said police officers should have to wear body cameras and report misconduct. They also were in favor of establishing standards for use of force, prosecuting officers who use excessive force and penalizing police supervisors for racially-biased actions by their subordinates.

The results sometimes fell along party lines: Democrats were more likely than Republicans or independents to support police reforms. For example, 68% of Democrats said they are in favor of limiting police departments’ use of military equipment, compared to 31% of Republicans and 41% of independents.

The results also differed by race. Of Black Americans surveyed, 57% said there needed to be a complete overhaul of the criminal justice system, while 26% of white Americans said the same.

Meanwhile, 83% of Blacks described the problem of police violence as “extremely/very serious,” compared to 39% of whites.

Forty-three percent of Blacks said they support reducing law enforcement funding, compared to 22% of whites, according to the poll.

“Defunding” the police has become a rallying cry for some following the May 25 death of Floyd. The Black Lives Matter movement, for example, has said it supports reallocating money from police to community efforts and a national health care system.

Too much leniency for cops?

Most Americans (65%) agreed on this, according to the poll: Police officers who cause death or injury are “treated too leniently by the justice system.”

That’s up from 41% who said the same in 2015, according to the poll.

Now-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for about eight minutes, has been charged with murder. He remains jailed under a $1.25 million bond.

Three other officers in the case were also fired. They have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

The poll reportedly has a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.

This story was originally published June 23, 2020 at 9:59 AM with the headline "Almost all in US want criminal justice reform, poll says. What do they want changed?."