Trust In Courts Research Articles

Trust in Legal Institutions: An Examination of the Philippines

AbstractWhile studies have examined the correlates of institutional trust across Asian countries, few studies have analyzed public attitudes toward two major social control institutions, the police and courts, in the Philippines. This study fills this gap in the literature by exploring the connections between social trust, institutional performance, media exposure and consumption, and trust in the police and courts. Using recent survey data from the Asian Barometer Survey, regression models were employed to assess and compare whether these factors are predictive of police and court trustworthiness. Results reveal the importance of social trust and institutional performance in predicting Filipinos’ trust in the police and courts. However, media exposure and consumption were largely ineffective in predicting police and court trust. Given the Philippines’ unique historical and political context, these findings contribute to existing literature and provide implications for future research and policy.

Judicial Inconsistency and Citizen Anti-Corruption Demobilization: Evidence from Brazil

Abstract This study examines the impact of judicial inconsistency in high-profile corruption cases on citizens' willingness to combat corruption. Based on evidence from an unexpected event during a survey in Brazil, the study demonstrates that contradictory decisions by different judges within a single day erode trust in courts and citizens' inclination to report corruption. Notably, perceptions of corruption and trust in other institutions remain unaffected. The findings support the argument that citizens can be discouraged from engaging in anti-corruption efforts not only by exposure to information about corruption but also by forming negative evaluations of anti-corruption performance. Building on previous research and the perspective of corruption as a collective-action problem, the article proposes that judicial inconsistency is perceived as a sign of insincere commitment to fighting corruption. These findings contribute to understanding the public opinion consequences of anti-corruption initiatives and the politicization of courts.

Populist governments, judicial independence, and public trust in the courts

ABSTRACT Can governments make courts politically compliant without undermining public confidence in the judicial system? Many studies show a positive relationship between judicial independence and citizens’ trust in courts. However, most of them have shown static cross-sectional correlations rather than actual effects of court curbing on trust. Factors such as citizens’ level of education and political preferences may also play a role in moderating reactions to court curbing. We analyse how assaults on judicial independence by populist governments in Turkey, Hungary, and Poland affected judicial trust, using a difference-in-differences approach to Eurobarometer data. While we find evidence that court curbing has an adverse effect on judicial trust, this effect is much clearer among citizens who are ideologically distant from their governments. These findings coincide with experimental evidence indicating how citizens tolerate democratic backsliding, suggesting that, for many, trust in the judicial system can subsist even when courts are made politically subservient.

When corruption investigations come to nothing: A natural experiment on trust in courts

AbstractCorruption scandals and their investigation have been shown to undermine support not only for the allegedly involved public officials but also for political actors and institutions more generally. However, we know little about what happens when those investigations end up failing to result in punishments. Is citizens' trust in the legal authorities in charge of prosecuting and punishing corruption also undermined? Do those effects spill over to political actors, institutions, and even the political regime? We address these questions by taking advantage of an April 2021 judicial decision to drop corruption charges against former Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates during the fieldwork of a public opinion survey. We show that the decision had a substantial negative impact on public trust in the courts. Furthermore, although political trust was not immediately affected, its overall levels also became lower in comparison to periods before the judicial decision, suggesting a spillover effect.

Understanding the effects of jury service on jurors' trust in courts

AbstractJury service is a positive, even transformative, experience for many jurors. Prior research establishes that jurors who deliberate on a court case develop more positive views of courts in the relatively short time of jury service, but we know little about the reasons underlying why these positive changes develop. This research focuses on changes in jurors' views after serving on criminal cases because jury service is one of the few opportunities community members have to participate directly in the criminal justice system, with jurors acting as the conscience of the community regarding the extent of prosecutorial power. Unlike most work using actual jurors, this research utilizes surveys with jurors both before and after jury service to understand how jury service brings about increased trust in courts. We examine the influence of three categories of potential factors, deliberating on a case, juror satisfaction, and jurors' attitudes relating to law and justice, finding all three categories work together to significantly predict whether jurors' trust in courts increases, decreases, or stays the same. Policy suggestions include developing innovative ways to capitalize on the positive and overall legitimizing aspects of jury service in criminal cases by increasing community members' meaningful involvement in the courts.

Conflict Resolution Strategies in Public Procurement: The Role of Informal Relations and Trust in Courts

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes conflict resolution strategies in public procurement in two transition economies, Russia and Kazakhstan, based on a supplier survey. The results show that 25% of suppliers in Kazakhstan and 32% of suppliers in Russia said preferred to resolve all public procurement conflicts through negotiations with the procurer without involving a third party represented by the regulator and/or the judicial system. The findings also revealed that Russian suppliers, potentially affiliated with procurers, are less likely to encounter conflict situations. The attitude to the practice of “predetermined choice,” when the procurer selects a supplier before the formal procurement procedure, was used as an indirect indicator of such affiliation. In addition, the empirical analysis shows that, in both countries, suppliers who are not inclined to trust the court and indicate high costs of participation in litigation are more likely to use the strategy of direct negotiations to resolve procurement conflicts.

Trust and firms’ performance in Western Balkan countries

The purpose of the paper is to analyse the effects of interpersonal trust in business relations (proxied by trade credit) and institutional trust (proxied by firms’ trust in courts) on firms’ performance. The analysis is performed on a specific sample of 1298 firms in Western Balkan countries which are usually characterized by negative social capital that is considered to hinder economic and social development at all levels. The methodological approach is based on the propensity score matching method and the obtained results show that firms’ perception of courts as fair, impartial and uncorrupted, is connected with lower costs and with positive expectations of an increase in sales in the upcoming period. On the other side, trade credit as a trust variable has a statistically significant and positive effect on firm productivity measured as sales per employee and on expectations of an increase in sales in the upcoming period. The paper contributes to the existing literature in terms of the choice of the post-socialist groups of countries for the analysis, the method that is used (treatment-effects estimation), and in terms of performing firm-level analysis of the effects of two types of trust on selected variables of firm performance.

A research agenda for trust and distrust in a multilevel judicial system

While public trust in the judicial system has been extensively explored in the US, this has been less common in Europe. The purpose of this paper is therefore to launch a research agenda on trust in courts. This is based on an overview of the empirical studies on trust/distrust in courts in Europe, which are assessed critically in light of the trust literature. We connect the concept of multilevel governance in which the EU operates to the concept of multilevel trust, which concerns the interrelations between interpersonal trust, interorganizational trust and system trust. Furthermore, we add structure to the existing literature on trust in and within courts in Europe by categorizing it into two main categories: (i) studies that focus on trust in courts within one (national or European) legal system and (ii) those that explore the interaction of trust in and between courts at different levels of governance (multilevel governance). We further examine whether different relational and institutional aspects of trust in courts, their drivers, dynamics and effect, as well as the recent trend of specialization in court systems have been sufficiently covered in the literature.

Building Trust: Can Courts Learn From Royal Commissions?

Confidence in the administration of justice and in the courts is an essential feature of democracy. This paper examines Australian research on trust in courts and judges, noting that negative experiences in a particular court may be generalised to the whole judicial system. The converse may also hold true, so that measures adopted by particular courts to increase confidence may well heighten confidence in courts generally. Governments frequently rely on community engagement to promote public confidence in their policy processes and institutions, though sometimes their methods for doing so backfire and actually reduce that confidence. The concept of community engagement has only recently been used to describe activities conducted by courts and quasi-judicial bodies such as Royal Commissions. Drawing on the author’s experience as a judge and Royal Commissioner, the paper describes some techniques used by Royal Commissions —a different type of legal fact-finding and policy recommendation forum— to inform communities and create trust in their processes and findings. It argues that these techniques could be usefully adapted by courts to achieve the same end, and outlines initiatives already being adopted by some Victorian courts to build and maintain public confidence in their operations and integrity. Viewing these activities through the lens of ‘community engagement’ treats these types of activities as part of a continuum that could ultimately improve collaboration between the courts and the public to design more user-focussed court services. The paper concludes by proposing that initiatives to build public trust and confidence in courts should be shared and also systematically evaluated to establish ‘what works’.

Intellectual Humility: A Necessary Precondition to Building Trust in Courts

Intellectual Humility: A Necessary Precondition to Building Trust in Courts

The reputation of the Judge as a Prerequisite for the Formation of Trust and Respect for the Court (Judges): Ukraine’s Experience

The article reveals the practical principles of building the reputation of judges as a prerequisite for the formation of respect and trust in the court and judges, based on the experience of Ukraine. It is established that there is a relatively low level of trust in courts and judges and the judiciary in general among citizens and society as a whole. It was found that mass media play a unique role in shaping the positive attitude of citizens towards the judiciary, as citizens usually receive information about judges and courts from the media. It is determined that the trust of society and citizens, in particular, is a critical element of the capacity of the judiciary, as well as one of the main indicators of its efficiency, so the judiciary in Ukraine should be based on trust, respect and confidence of citizens and society as a whole. It is established that judges exert the primary influence on increasing the level of public confidence in the activities of the judiciary, as it is these activities and the legality of the administration of justice that serve as the basis for forming the level of public confidence. It is proved that respect for the activities of the judiciary depends on 1) the professionalism of judges; 2) efficiency of execution of court decisions; 3) positive coverage of information about the activities of judges in mass media and its impact on the formation of respect for judges and the authority of the judiciary in the society; 4) respect for judges and bodies of the judiciary by politicians; 5) respect for judges and bodies of the judiciary by lawyers; 6) features of cleansing the judiciary from corruption; 7) conduct of judges at the time of consideration of court cases; 8) judges’ behavior in private life; 9) active involvement of judicial governing bodies in defending the status of independence of judges; 10) transparency of the judiciary. It is established that the image of judges provides grounds for establishing the level of public credibility of the judiciary. It is noted that the prospects for further research in this area are to study the practical principles of building the reputation of judges as a prerequisite for the formation of respect and trust in the court and judges in Europe.

SELF ASSESSMENT IMPROVEMENT STRATEGIES (TAXPAYER COMPLIANCE, TAXPAYER INSPECTION, AND TAX MORALE APPROACH)

Self-assessment system approach is a system in which taxpayers are given the authority to report their own income to the tax service office. The purpose of this research is to explore the implementation and strategies to support in improving the self-assessment system in KPP Pratama Kendari City. This study describes taxpayer compliance, tax audit, and self-assessment system strategies through the tax morale approach. The results of this study indicate that the implementation of taxpayer compliance still needs to be improved, tax audits have been carried out optimally, and tax morale raises three topics, namely trust in government, trust in court and legal systems, and trust in tax officials.

Trust in Colombia’s Justicia Especial Para La Paz: Experimental Evidence

Research on the determinants of institutional trust in courts that are part of transitional justice frameworks is scarce. This article relies on experimental evidence to explore whether features of the case and the ruling play a role in citizens’ attitudes towards the Justicia Especial para la Paz, Colombia’s transitional justice tribunal. I evaluate whether the profile of the accused and whether or not he is sentenced to the most lenient of restorative justice measures have an effect on trust. I find that support for the decision is lower for restorative sentences than for more punitive sentences, and that whether or not the acussed was a former guerrilla combatant or a member of the military does not influence evaluations. This research contributes to our understanding of how citizens in countries dealing with the aftermath of violence perceive the institutions devised to adjudicate on the atrocities of conflict.

Does Public Support for Judicial Power Depend on Who is in Political Power? Testing a Theory of Partisan Alignment in Africa

Judicial power is central to democratic consolidation and the rule of law. Public support is critical for establishing and protecting it. Conventional wisdom holds that this support is rooted in apolitical factors and not dependent on who is in political power. By contrast, we argue that support may be driven by instrumental partisan motivations and therefore linked to partisan alignment with the executive. We test the argument with survey evidence from 34 African countries. To provide causal evidence, we conduct difference-in-differences analyses leveraging Ghana’s three presidential transitions since 2000. Across Africa, support for judicial power is high, while trust in courts is lower. However, presidential co-partisans arelesssupportive of horizontal judicial power over the president andmoresupportive of vertical power over the people. The article demonstrates the importance of partisan alignment with the executive in shaping support for judicial power, with implications for judicial behavior and legitimacy.

Trust in the Court: The Role of the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract The growing impact of European institutions on the daily lives of citizens has stimulated greater attention to the public’s trust in these bodies. Existing research on trust in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) tends to focus on the role of judges and their rulings. In contrast, this article examines the role of the ECtHR’s Registry. We argue that the civil servants of the ECtHR serve a critical function for the court’s operation and have the potential to play an indispensable trust-building role. Drawing on interviews with court officials and survey responses from government agents, we identify and discuss the practices and features of the Registry that contribute to, or undermine, member states’ estimations of trust in the ECtHR. In light of repeated and mounting criticism by member governments, our findings have important implications for the continued relevance of, and political support for, the Court moving forward.

Autocratic checks and balances? Trust in courts and bureaucratic discretion

ABSTRACTAn emerging literature in political economy focuses on democratic enclaves or pockets of quasi-democratic decision-making embedded in non-democracies. This article first explores the factors that may lead to the emergence of such institutional checks and balances in autocratic politics. I use the comparative analysis of courts in Morocco and Tunisia, and argue that interest group mobilization and the centrality of legalism in political development have been essential for the existence of “governance” enclaves. Second, I explore whether such checks effectively contain everyday rent-seeking, as well as the theoretical channels through which this may occur. Findings from firm-level surveys conducted in Morocco and Tunisia in 2013 indicate that higher general trust in courts, even in modest relative terms, rendered businesses significantly less vulnerable to tax corruption in Tunisia, in sharp contrast to the Moroccan case.

TRUST TO COURT AS A FACTOR OF TRUST TO PUBLIC AUTHORITY: INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL MEASUREMENTS

Problem setting. The urgency of the analysis of the current experience of sociological assessments of the level of trust in social institutions, in particular, the court, is due to the fact that for European countries the paradox of mass consciousness becomes more and more characteristic: confidence in the court decreases even in conditions of increase of efficiency, accessibility, justice of justice, that are recorded according to the results of ju- dicial reform. Requirements and expectations are growing (especially in more educated or socially adapted categories of the population), and, accordingly, there is a probability of inconsistency of pace of reforms and the presence of positive dynamics of trust in court. Recent research and publications analysis. The assessment of trust in the courts as a factor of trust in public authority is at the center of attention of domestic and foreign scholars. These problems were addressed by B. Barber, M. Buromensky, M. King,I. Lavrinenko, V. Lebedev, N. Luhmann, C. Morgner, O. Serdyuk, T. Habriyeva et al. How- ever, each state is looking for its criteria for monitoring the activities of courts.Paper objective. The purpose of this article is to formulate the main principles of na- tional monitoring of the level of trust in the court and the judicial system on the basis of analysis, firstly, of the most famous international sociological methodologies and, sec- ondly, the peculiarities of the current Ukrainian situation in this area.Paper main body. Trust is a generalized indicator of the norms, attitudes and values that underlie social cooperation, and in public life, trust fosters community unity and com- munity building, and in the economic sphere, it accelerates cooperation and interper- sonal exchanges. As a socio-psychological category of trust, it is a characteristic of anopen, positive relationship between the parties and reflects the confidence in the honesty and benevolence of the other party with which the trust is in one way or another based on his experience. From this point of view, trust has certain limits based on knowing about the other party that is trusted. Full trust is often identified with faith, because the mechanism of such trust is no longer based on rational principles, that is, on experience and on pre- diction and prior knowledge of one side of the second and includes irrational motives of the relationship. In social sciences, the level of trust one party can trust in another is measured in the belief in the honesty, charity and competence of the other party. Based on recent research, distrust can be forgiven much easier when interpreted as lack of compe- tence than inadequate benevolence or honesty. The assessment of trust in the court is recognized as a measure of the rule of law (rule of law). This approach is used in a variety of international and national practical tools for assessing democratic regimes.Conclusions of the research. Institutional trust can be considered as a kind of indica- tor that determines social well-being of the population, in addition, it is an important condition of social communication, through which the consent, understanding and dialogue of the parties is achieved, and it becomes possible to seek new opportunities for further development. The increase of trust in the judicial system of Ukraine is one of the tasks of the judiciary and is outlined in strategic documents of the development of the judiciary of Ukraine in recent years. The level of trust (distrust) of citizens to justice is affected by a number of factors, the most important among which should be called: the quality of leg- islation, on the basis of which decisions are adopted and substantiated; the quality of the judiciary; the degree of accessibility and openness of justice; coverage of court work in the media; the degree of execution of court decisions. From trust in the court it is necessary to distinguish between the perception of justice by citizens, the level of which is influenced by the ability of citizens to protect their rights in court, the application of the law by the court in an appropriate and effective manner, equality and non-discrimination before the law, the legality of the adopted judgments, the effective struggle of the state with corrup- tion, etc.

Judicial Trustworthiness in Africa: Do Macro-Level Conditions Matter?

The current study’s primary goal was to assess the extent to which specific macro-level conditions cause variation in citizens’ levels of trust in courts across 33 African countries. Using an advanced analytical technique, results revealed that a country’s levels of democracy has a significant and positive relationship with citizens’ trust in the court. However, institutional corruption and crime (homicide rate) had significant and negative relationship with citizens’ trust in the court. Moreover, findings observed indicate that the relationship between macro-level factors and trust in the court is mediated by region of the country. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.

In the CJEU Judges Trust: A New Approach in the Judicial Construction of Europe

AbstractThis article aims to highlight the relevance of judicial trust in international courts, focusing on national judges' trust in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). EU scholars have put a great deal of effort into explaining how legal and political factors affect the use of preliminary references by national courts. However, there is still a gap in the literature on the development of trust as a functional principle encouraging co‐operation between national and international courts. This article explores the nature, causes and potentials of judicial trust for the EU judicial system. A theory is offered in the article, which links national judges' trust in the CJEU to their corporatist identification and profile, to their attitudes towards the EU, and to their beliefs about the CJEU's ability to provide decisions that: 1) offer a clear guidance on European Union law, and 2) will not undermine Member States' legal order.

Do Truth Commissions Promote Trust in the Judiciary in African States?

This paper examines the effects of truth and reconciliation commissions and peace committees on popular perceptions of the judicial systems of Africa. Using data from the Afrobarometer, and conducting mixed effects quantitative analysis, we test whether or not the use of truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) and peace committees led to greater popular trust in the courts. We find both cross-nationally, sub-nationally, and over time, the use of TRCs has not led to greater trust in courts (as is often claimed by its advocates), but find some support for the notion that they detract from trust in the judiciary. We suggest this is because such institutions have been established to compete with existing judicial practices, rather than complement and enhance them.