Legitimizing the Judiciary: a Multilevel Explanation of Factors Influencing Public Confidence in Asian Court Systems
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Legitimizing the Judiciary: a Multilevel Explanation of Factors Influencing Public Confidence in Asian Court Systems Francis D. Boateng 1 Received: 12 June 2019 / Accepted: 3 April 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract
The study analyzed large-scale data from several sources, covering more than 42,000 individuals in 28 Asian countries to comparatively assess the effects of country-level variables on Asians’ confidence in their court systems. Three HLM ordinal logistic regression models were fitted instantaneously to achieve the objective of the study. Results revealed that a country’s levels of democracy and peacefulness had a significant and positive relationship with citizens’ confidence in the courts. Moreover, citizens living in countries with absolute press freedom reported greater levels of confidence. However, individuals living in countries that were highly corrupt tended to have reduced confidence in the courts. The impact of terrorism on a country had no influence on public confidence. Keywords Public confidence . Court . Terrorism . Asia . Peacefulness . Pressfreedom . Democracy
Introduction There is growing evidence that public trust and confidence in the judiciary are fundamental to effective functioning and administration of justice in all societies (Barua 2009; Benesh and Howell 2001; Boateng and Makin 2016; Aydın Çakır and Şekercioğlu 2016; Dugard 2006; Hough and Roberts 2004). The underlying assumption is that either confidence or trust is a prerequisite for sustaining democratic regimes. Public confidence legitimizes the authority and decisions of the court and makes citizens less likely to challenge and disobey court processes (Gibson 1989; Tyler 1990). Many scholars believe that a justice system facing a confidence deficit does not only find it difficult to secure citizens’ participation in criminal proceedings (Roberts and Stalans 1997; Dugard 2006) but also faces the possibility of a complete revamping of the entire system (Sherman 2002). There is, therefore, no doubt that greater
* Francis D. Boateng [email protected]
1
Department of Legal Studies, The University of Mississippi, P.O. Box 1848, 84 Dormitory Row West, University, MS 38677, USA
Asian Journal of Criminology
levels of citizen confidence and trust in the judiciary are a requirement that all courts have to meet. Public participation is important in all aspects of criminal proceedings. With greater confidence in the system, victims and witnesses will be willing to cooperate with the prosecution, which is important for a successful prosecution. In most instances, criminal offenders will plead guilty to the crime if they know victims will testify, and witnesses will give evidence during trial. Despite the well-established evidence on the importance of citizens’ favorable attitudes toward the judiciary, studies trying to understand the dynamics of citizens’ attitudes have been largely limited and one-sided. First, most existing studies have mainly focused on demographics and perceptual variables in explaining how citize
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