The Effect of Exposure to Racialized Cues on White and Black Public Support for Justice Reinvestment

Racial priming theory predicts that exposure to racialized cues causes whites to express stronger opposition to social policies designed to ameliorate racial disparities. This study uses racial priming theory to analyze black and white public opinion about the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) with a particular emphasis on the choice of how to reinvest tax money. A framing experiment tests whether exposure to racialized cue words affects people’s willingness to invest money into the social infrastructure of neighborhoods of concentrated disadvantage versus invest money into the criminal justice system. Results indicate no investment preference differences between people exposed to implicitly racialized cues and people exposed to no cues, but whites who were explicitly told that “African American communities” would receive reinvestment funds allocated significant less money toward programs and services in these communities. This study also explores how racism and perceptions of fairness in the justice system moderate this framing effect.