Monday, November 21, 2011

California Court Users Prefer Court Decisions Be Made Through Fair Process

According to a 2005 survey [pdf] of the public, the strongest predictor by far of whether members of the public approve or have confidence in the courts was: 

Having a sense that court decisions are made through processes that are fair. 

Between November 2004 and February 2005, over 2,400 California adults were surveyed regarding their: 

Bureau of State Audits Elaine M. Howle State Auditor California, J. Sharon Reilly C.E.A., Doug D. Cordiner Chief Deputy State Auditor, Donna L. Neville Staff Counsel, Steven B. Russo Staff Counsel, Scott Baxter Staff Counsel, Denise L. Vose C.E.A., John F. Collins C.E.A., Joanne Quarles Principal Auditor, Debbie Meador C.E.A., Michael S. Tilden Principal Auditor, John R. Baier Principal Auditor, Karen L. McKenna Principal Auditor, Michelle J. Baur Principal Auditor, Raymond G. Parks Principal Auditor, S. Ramirez-Ridgeway Staff Counsel, James Sandberglarsen Principal Auditor California Bureau of State Audits
  • Knowledge about the courts and the sources of that knowledge
  • Perceived and experienced barriers to court access
  • Experiences as jurors, litigants, or consumers of court information
  • Expectations for what the courts should be doing
  • Sense of the accessibility, fairness and efficiency of the courts 

The study was commissioned by the Administrative Office of the Courts on behalf of the Judicial Council of California, and the results were published [pdf] in September 2005. We'll cover more of the study results in future posts.