We’ve already seen in Parts I and II of this series that Americans’ confidence in the police and criminal justice system has been on a downward trajectory for the last decade. I imagine the anti-police civil unrest of 2014 and 2020 has something to do with this trend, as well as a flattening out of the violent crime rate (which had seen a rather steep decline from 1993-2014). But is that all there is to it? Could the way Americans are feeling about the police and criminal justice system reflect a declining confidence in US institutions in general? Let’s check it out:
Hmmm. There is a general drift downward since around the Great Recession, although confidence in small business didn’t fall until the pandemic crash. Confidence in big business took a hit during the 2001 dot-com recession, after which it remained fairly flat until 2018 when it fell further. Confidence in the presidency plunged during the second Bush II term, recovered and then fell again during the Obama years, actually went up during Trump, and has fallen once again with Biden. Congress hit a high point circa 2003-2004 (I’m guessing before disillusion with US wars set in) and basically hasn’t recovered since. As for confidence in higher education, the trend is obvious and rather alarming.
Americans appear to be losing faith in the American project, which was never about how great we are but about how much better we could be - a project of ongoing improvement, thanks in large part to sturdy institutions that can manage change without self-destructing. Can we go back there, please?