A TOTAL OF 1,944 ADULT BLACK AMERICANS WERE INTERVIEWED IN TWO SAMPLES DRAWN FROM A NORTHEASTERN CITY OF TWO MILLION (ONE-THIRD BLACK) AND A SOUTHERN CITY OF 250,000 (ONE-THIRD BLACK) AND ASKED TO AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THESE STATEMENTS: (1) IT IS OKAY FOR A BLACK PERSON TO BREAK THE LAW IF HE DOES NOT GET CAUGHT, (2) IN COURT DO YOU HAVE THE SAME CHANCE AS A WHITE PERSON, AND (3) POLICE BULLY BLACKS UNDER THE GUISE OF LAW AND ORDER. RESPONSES WERE CATEGORIZED ACCORDING TO GROUPS OVER AND UNDER 30 YEARS OF AGE, SEX, REGION, MORE AND LESS THAN 12 YEARS OF SCHOOLING, BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS (PREFERRED THE DESIGNATIONS 'BLACK' OR 'AFRO-AMERICAN' TO THE LABELS 'COLORED' OR 'NEGRO'), AND SENSE OF ALIENATION (FEELING OF BEING A POWERLESS MINORITY TO WHOSE INTERESTS DOMINANT WHITE SOCIETY IS INDIFFERENT). ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FINDINGS OF THE SURVEY WAS THAT, DESPITE RESPONDENTS' DIFFERENCES IN AGE, REGION, SEX, EDUCATION, ALIENATION, AND BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS, THE LARGE MAJORITY AGREED THAT IT WAS NOT OKAY FOR BLACKS TO BREAK THE LAW, EVEN IF THEY WERE NOT CAUGHT. THOSE INTERVIEWED ALSO OVERWHELMINGLY BELIEVED THAT THEY WERE SUBJECT TO UNFAIR COURT TREATMENT AND POLICE VICTIMIZATION UNDER THE GUISE OF LAW AND ORDER. THOSE MOST CRITICAL OF POLICE AND COURTS TENDED TO BE AMONG THOSE WITH A STRONG SENSE OF BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS AND ALIENATION. EDUCATION MADE LITTLE OR NO DIFFERENCE IN THE ATTITUDES OF THE RESPONDENTS. THERE WAS A TENDENCY FOR SOUTHERN RESPONDENTS TO A GREATER TOLERANCE FOR THE POLICE AND COURTS THAN THEIR NORTHERN COUNTERPARTS. WHILE THE FREQUENCY OF CONTACTS BETWEEN BLACKS, THE POLICE, AND COURTS, CAN BE EXPECTED TO BE DISPROPORTIONATELY HIGH DUE TO THE ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR OF BLACKS (YOUNG MALES IN PARTICULAR) SPAWNED BY SOCIOECONOMIC DEPRIVATIONS AND FRUSTRATIONS ROOTED IN A HOST OF SERIOUS SOCIOECONOMIC AND EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS, CONTACTS BETWEEN THE POLICE, COURTS, AND BLACKS COULD BE MORE POSITIVE THROUGH INCREASED MINORITY RECRUITING FOR POLICE AND GREATER CONSCIENTIOUSNESS IN PROVIDING EQUALITY OF TREATMENT IN THE COURTS. TABULAR DATA FROM THE SURVEY ARE PROVIDED. (RCB)