Satisfaction with the actual experience: Croatian lay judges on their experience in mixed tribunals

Abstract

Lay judges, a part of the criminal justice system of many European countries, participate in legal decision making jointly with professional judges. In this paper I examine the lay judges’ level of satisfaction with their everyday experience in Croatian courtrooms by studying answers provided by 229 surveyed lay judges. I analyze the impact of the perceived frequency and importance of lay judges’ contributions toward the work of mixed tribunals, the characteristics of the courts the lay judges serve, and the lay judges’ demographic factors (e.g., gender, age, education, length of service) on the expressed level of satisfaction with their overall experience and their perceptions about the treatment they receive from professional judges.