A large majority of Black Americans report they or someone they know have negative interactions with police, according to the GenForward survey on community safety, often causing fear in Black communities when crises arise. The Black Youth Project, housed at the University of Chicago Department of Political Science, operates GenForward with MacArthur support, to create a unique custom survey designed to gather data about the perspectives of youth of color. This edition of the survey looked at Black people’s perspectives and experiences with policing, incarceration, and alternative systems. They found people were likely to support non-policing approaches to public safety when given specific alternatives—in one example 86 percent supported creating a first responder agency specializing in de-escalating violence and providing mental hearth support. The data demonstrates the urgency to shift away from a carceral approach to safety, to more community input and addressing root causes of crime and violence.
