Socio-demographic factors of Ukrainians’ attitude to the judiciary

Abstract

The article analyzes the socio-demographic determinants of Ukrainian citizens’ attitude to the judiciary identified on the basis of a nationwide survey. The sociological specifics of the analysis provided for the verification of the influence of those factors that reflect the consequences of social stratification in a particular society — its socio-economic, political and socio-cultural dimensions. In different countries of the world, the influence of socio-demographic factors on the attitude to the judiciary has been uneven and unequal. In many European countries, the experience of cooperating with the courts leads to a negative attitude towards justice. The attitude to the judiciary is considered through four indicators: 1) trust in the courts; 2) assessment of the chances of winning court case, regardless of the wealth of the citizen; 3) assessment of an independence of judges; 4) assessment of an integrity of judges. Despite social optimism observed in Ukrainian society after the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections, the study found a low level of trust and negative assessments of Ukrainian justice. Using the method of multiple linear regression, it was found that public opinion about justice is formed regardless of gender, level of education and region of residence. It was found that Ukrainians’ attitude to the judiciary is largely determined by age, settlement type, language of communication at home and experience of participation in the trial. Confidence and positive assessments assessments of the judiciary are mainly manifested as the age and size of the settlement decrease, as well as among Russian speakers and those who have experience of participating in the trial. The influence of the respondents’ financial situation on their assessment of the independence of judges was unexpectedly dependent: as the financial situation of the family decreased, the tendency to consider judges independent increased.