Hoping that the Philippine Bench and Bar might learn something from the American experience, for legal research purposes, let me share with the visitors of this blog the salient findings of the 1999 survey conducted by the American Bar Association (ABA; www.abanet.org) entitled PERCEPTIONS OF THE U.S. JUSTICE SYSTEM, which I have digested below, thus:
Some of the key findings of the study were as follows:
1. People strongly believe in the justice system, though they also identify areas that warrant improvement.
2. People have confidence in the overall justice system, though the amount of that confidence varies for specific components of the system. Further, that confidence can be influenced over time and by level of knowledge, positive court experience, and personal demographic traits.
3. People’s knowledge of the justice system is uneven. They recognize some obscure tenets but still lack knowledge about more basic ones.
4. Certain attitudes can influence people’s confidence in the justice system. There are some confidence drivers that already show quite positive public attitudes. These attitudes should be maintained and strengthened. There are other areas that also influence confidence, but currently show more negative attitudes. These negative attitudes that work against confidence need to be addressed as areas for improvement.
At least conceptually, there was strong support for the justice system. The data indicated that 80% of all respondents strongly agree or agree, based on a 5-point scale, that “in spite of its problems, the American justice system is still the best in the world.” (Let the readers make their own counter-conclusions hereon). Further, the root of this support seems to lie in the jury system, as more than three-quarters, 78%, say it is the fairest way to determine guilt or innocence, and more than two-thirds, 69%, believe that juries are the most important part of our justice system.
Respondents have the most confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court, with 50% showing strong confidence in this institution and only 15% having slight or no confidence in it. Confidence in other federal courts, in judges, and in the justice system overall is not as strong, with about a third of the respondents extremely or very confident in each institution. Strong confidence in the U.S. Congress is shown by only 18% of the respondents. Strong confidence in lawyers is shown only by 14% of the respondents. The media fared the worst, with strong confidence from only 8% of the respondents and slight or no confidence from 60% of the respondents. This suggests that while a clear majority believes in the justice system there is wide variation in how much confidence people have in the specific institutions that comprise it.
Respondents were asked the same questions about confidence in a 1978 ABA study. Confidence in some key components of the justice system showed significant increases since that study was conducted. The levels of confidence in all kinds of courts— the U.S. Supreme Court, other federal courts, and state and local courts— have increased. Confidence in the local police also increased significantly. On the other hand, confidence in doctors, organized religion, public schools, the U.S. Congress, and, most notably, the media decreased.
One of the key conclusions of the 1978 study, which became the basis for many programs, was, “Those having knowledge and experience with the court voice the greatest dissatisfaction and criticism.” But the 1999 study, along with other research, refuted that conclusion.
Specifically, it reveals that the more knowledge people have about the justice system the greater their confidence in the justice system overall as well as in a whole host of its components. In all of the cases identified, people with greater knowledge have significantly more confidence in the justice system than do those with lower levels of knowledge. (“Levels of knowledge” refers to factual information about the courts and the justice system.) Further, people with positive court experiences were also more likely to have greater confidence in the justice system than those who had negative court experiences. There are significant differences in confidence for all parts of the system, except that few people, regardless of experience, have confidence in lawyers and the legal profession.
In addition to tracking confidence by knowledge and court experiences, the study looked for the demographic characteristics of people with the most confidence in the justice system. It found that they are more likely to be men, those who have higher incomes, those who are more educated, and those who have positive litigant and juror experience.
Further, there are no consistent differences in confidence along ethnic lines. About the same number of whites and non-whites are extremely or very confident in the overall justice system.
It should be noted, however, that while overall confidence in the justice system shows no consistent patterns based on race/ethnicity, specific attitudes toward the system do vary between whites and non-whites, with whites holding more positive attitudes in many areas, particularly those that relate to equality of treatment.
Looking at the data in more detail, significant differences are apparent between whites and nonwhites, between men and women, among those 35 to 54 years old and based on whether or not a person had experience with lawyers and litigation. The most dramatic differences lie in the levels of education and income. Those with post graduate degrees, and those who earn more than $75,000 a year are much more likely than others to be knowledgeable about the justice system.
When asked where they get their knowledge, most people name school – grade school, high school and, to a lesser extent, college. A substantial number of people, 67%, also say they get their knowledge through personal experience. When respondents were asked about the importance of a variety of information sources, they identified personal experience, schools, and libraries as the most important. Jury duty also is considered important by more than half the people as one form of personal experience. At the other extreme, all forms of media or entertainment, such as movies, videos, television dramas, court programs such as People’s Court or Judge Judy, are considered the least important information sources.
When people’s rankings of the various sources of information are analyzed in relation to their level of knowledge about the justice system, some interesting differences emerge. Personal experience, schools, books, jury duty and attorneys are equally important to all people. However, all forms of media, such as television news, local newspapers, radio news and even television dramas are significantly more important to people with less knowledge than to people with more knowledge. This clearly suggests that the media can and do impact some people’s knowledge base.
Finally, people were asked from whom they want to learn about the justice system. They want to learn from the people who are involved in it and whom they consider most important – current and retired judges and educators. While a little more than half the people want to learn about the justice system from lawyers, this is relatively low compared to the 75% who said they wanted to learn from judges.
While it may be that people view judges as credible information sources, most people, 51%, do not agree that judges are not paid enough. However, most, 54%, do agree that they are extremely well qualified for their jobs. And while most believe that judges contribute to their communities, about a third believes judges do not contribute enough. Education programs involving judges would be a way to improve people’s knowledge of the system and promote judges’ civic-mindedness.
There are attitudes that need to be addressed. Respondents believe that court costs are too high; that court matters take too long to resolve; that certain groups are not treated fairly in court; that judges and lawyers should perform more community service. There is also room for improvement in their perception of lawyers.
Most people, 69%, believe that it is easy to find a lawyer, if needed, and more than half, 54%, believe legal services and courts are easy to access. But three-quarters of the people believe it takes too long to go to court and it costs too much. It is important to change the view that the judicial system is too laborious and costs too much.
It also is important to work to improve people’s perceptions of lawyers, which vary based on their own experiences. If their experience was positive, they are more likely to have positive perceptions of lawyers. If their experience was negative, they are more likely to have negative perceptions. Further, lawyers are often perceived to be more concerned about their own interests than the public’s or the clients’. Finally, lawyers are not considered as civic-minded as judges, and as a result, people do not have much confidence in them.
A substantial number of people believe that the justice system treats different groups of people unequally. Only about half of the respondents agree that men and women are treated equally; even fewer believe that among racial or ethnic groups or between wealthy and poor people the treatment is equal. In fact, if the data are analyzed by sub-groups, those differences become even more pronounced. People who are less likely to agree that sub-groups are treated equally include women, non-whites, those with lower incomes and less education and those with negative court experiences. These people are the mirror images of those who are more knowledgeable and have more confidence in the justice system – more educated, higher income, white males. Men are more likely and women are less likely to agree that the system treats men and women equally; whites are more likely and non-whites are less likely to agree that the system treats different racial and ethnic groups the same; likewise for the statements about income. This suggests that perceived inequalities still exist. Given this issue’s influence on people’s confidence, it sorely needs to be addressed.
Anywhere from one half to three-quarters of respondents feel that convicted criminals have too many opportunities to appeal (72%), that they are set free on too many technicalities (68%), and that they are not given severe enough punishment (52%). On the other hand, more than half, 56%, favor alternative sentencing, such as community service, over jail time.
Digested:
Atty. Manuel J. Laserna Jr.
