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: 

• 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.

One Party Self-Represented In More Than 75 Percent of Family Law Cases

Key Statistic Omitted from Elkins Task Force Final Report



Task Force Whitewashes Critical Statistic

In many California communities, more than 75 percent of family court cases have at least one self-represented party, according to the Elkins Task Force Final Report and Recommendations [pdf], released this month by the Judicial Council.

"Given the complexity of family law issues, why do people represent themselves? All too often they have no choice...What is at stake in the family court process are long lasting decisions that affect people's most fundamental and important aspects of their lives."

What the report conveniently doesn't mention, and apparently whitewashes is the number of family court cases in which one side has an attorney and the other doesn't. Based on our research and anecdotal evidence, that is the critical statistic.