Where Do We Stand? An Exploratory Analysis of Confidence in African Court Systems

Francis Danso Boateng,David A Makin

doi:10.5204/ijcjsd.v5i4.291

Abstract

As an exploratory analysis, this research investigates the factors influencing public confidence in the court systems of five African nations; namely, South Africa, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and Zambia. Incorporating frequency descriptive measurements and ordinal logistic regression, this research provides a comparative assessment across varying political, cultural, social and historical contexts to foster continued research within the criminal justice institutions, specifically the courts. The findings indicate that public confidence in the courts remains high, despite popular speculation to the contrary. There were, however, varying levels of confidence between the five nations; differences at theoretical and practical levels are discussed.

Highlights

Democratic government institutions need public support to perform effectively (Barua 2009; Baum 1992; Calderia 1991; Carp and Stidham 1991; Marshell 1989)
Despite the debate on the efficacy of the modernization theory (Matunhu 2011; Nivette 2013), Clinard and Abbott (1973) introduced a critical point concerning the inevitability of crime through modernization within developing nations. This inevitability has been uniquely apparent within the democratization processes occurring across Africa
Many citizens within developing nations are denied access to or participation within the democratic process and, specific to the criminal justice system, are unable to turn to a court of law looking for recompense

Summary

Introduction

Democratic government institutions need public support to perform effectively (Barua 2009; Baum 1992; Calderia 1991; Carp and Stidham 1991; Marshell 1989). Roberts and Stalans (1997) offer lack of confidence in this regard as making citizens less willing to take part in democratic aspects of a justice system. This lack of confidence may reduce willingness of citizens to bring conflicts into the system for resolution (Dugard 2006). Lack of trust in the justice institution is a cause of decreasing appearances before the court when a summons has been received These breakdowns in social control undermine security within a nation (Loader and Walker 2007)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion