At the root of racial tracking is a public consensus that abides and enables it. A majority of Americans do not consider racial tracking sufficiently problematic as to do something about it. The lack of concern is not due to a lack of awareness, nor to indifference. Most Americans are aware of racial differences in the system and disapprove. But, despite the public’s belief that law enforcement officers’ treatment of blacks is partly motivated by racial stereotyping, such racial improprieties are not weighty enough to bring the entire system into disrepute. Further, many are convinced that blacks are violence-prone and, therefore, mostly to blame for their overrepresentation in jails and prisons. There is also a sense the country has done all it can and perhaps more than it should to right the wrongs of historically rooted racial inequities.

Transcending all these considerations is the fact that, instead of racial tracking, another criminal justice policy concern is more pressing on the public mind. Americans believe that what the criminal justice system needs most now is a greater commitment to holding criminals accountable and passage of effective crime reduction measures. If lawmakers are to marshal their energies toward any particular criminal justice policy end, that end should be making the system stronger, over and above that of making it racially fair. The same ordering of preferences is evident specifically in black public opinion as well. Because such social, political, and policy preferences cut across racial lines, they are best understood as reflective of a deeply rooted, cross-racial public mind-set.