Courts most admired by those who use them

Complaining about the judicial system – a virtual birthright for Americans – occurs less among the people who have the most reason to castigate the courts: Those who have used them.

In the case of the courts, familiarity seems to breed respect. That’s the finding of a new study by Herbert Kritzer, UW–Madison professor and chair of political science and professor of law, and John Voelker, policy analyst for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. They conducted exit and mail surveys of people who have used the trial-level state courts in Wisconsin.

Compared to the state’s general population, court users showed a distinct difference in attitudes. “We found a pattern that persons who very recently were in court reported more positive evaluations than those who had been to court up to a year ago, and both of these groups were more positive about the courts than the general population,” says Kritzer. “It appears that, at least in Wisconsin, negativity toward the courts is a function of popular images rather than actual experience.”

The power of popular images popped up in another finding of Kritzer’s study. “Even though recent court contact increases the courts’ positive image,” he says, “that image trails off quickly as the general negative perception repeated in the media replaces that specific experience.

“After all, the nature of news reporting serves to feature not the positive and routine, but the negative and exceptional, such as the O.J. (Simpson) trial and the second Oklahoma bombing trial.”

Kritzer and Voelker polled nearly 800 plaintiffs, defendants, witnesses, jurors, law enforcement officers, lawyers and other courthouse regulars in 10 Wisconsin counties. He asked them to rate various aspects of their court experience, including case processing, safety and convenience, courtesy and court decisions.

Their responses were overwhelmingly positive. Of the 35 evaluative criteria used in the mail survey, 25 elicited a positive response from a majority of court users. For example, more than 80 percent of the general population of Wisconsin agreed with this statement: “Court decisions take too long.” But only 26 percent of the mail survey respondents and 13 percent of the exit survey respondents agreed.

An intriguing but unexplained pattern: More women gave positive responses than men on 34 of the 35 criteria.

It appears that this pattern is not unique to Wisconsin. A similar survey of Virginians in 1992 found the same difference in perception of the courts between those who had recent experience in them and those who did not.

“In short,” says Kritzer, “going to court tends to result in at least a short-term improvement in people’s views of the courts.”