Survey: Hispanics skeptical of police fairness

updated 2:26 p.m. ET April 7, 2009

WASHINGTON - Fewer than half of Hispanics in the U.S. believe they will be treated fairly by police or the courts, showing a level of distrust greater than that of whites but less than blacks, according to surveys.

The report released Tuesday by the Pew Hispanic Center highlights a widening disconnect in racial justice: At a time when Hispanics are interacting more with law enforcement due in part to their growing population as well as stepped up immigration enforcement, they are showing skepticism.

Mark Hugo Lopez, associate director of the center, cited in part Hispanics' fears of immigration prosecutions as well as a perception that police will be ineffective in helping them if they are victims of a crime.

"Hispanic exposure to all parts of the criminal justice system has risen even faster than their rising share of the U.S. adult population," he said.

Among the findings:

• Forty-six percent of Hispanics were confident police would treat them fairly compared to other racial or ethnic groups. That's compared to 74 percent of whites and 37 percent of blacks.

• Roughly six in 10 Hispanics say they have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence that police will do a good job overall enforcing the law. That is compared to 78 percent of whites and 55 percent of blacks.

• More than half, or 56 percent, of Hispanics say they or an immediate family member had contact with the criminal justice system in the previous five years, either as a witness to a crime, a juror, or as a suspect or criminal.

• Forty-six percent of Hispanics believe police will not use excessive force on suspects, compared to 73 percent of whites and 38 percent of blacks.

The survey was conducted in mid-2008, when immigration prosecutions were rising due to tighter enforcement during the Bush administration. Citing minority distrust of government workers, Hispanic and other groups are urging the Obama administration to push through immigration reform or temporarily halt raids during next year's census to ensure a more accurate count.

There are nearly 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., many of them clustered in states such as California, New York, Florida and Texas, which stand to either lose seats or gain fewer seats in the House of Representatives depending on whether their Hispanic communities are fully counted.

The Pew survey interviewed 2,015 Hispanics ages 18 and older by phone from June 9 through July 13, 2008. The sampling error for Hispanics was plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. The figures for blacks and whites came from a November 2007 Pew survey.

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