Assessing Changes in Perceived Confidence in the Courts and Legal System in America: An Analysis of Data from the General Social Survey
Open Access
Author:
Carpenter, Graceanne
Area of Honors:
Criminology
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Eric P Baumer, Thesis Supervisor Stacy Silver, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Confidence Courts Legal System Race General Social Survey GSS Changes
Abstract:
Confidence in the courts and legal system holds important implications for public compliance of the law and likelihood of usage of legal resources. However, it is unclear how perceived confidence has changed over time and whether there are racial and ethnic differences. We examine this issue by using data from the General Social Survey (GSS) from 1998, 2008, and 2018. We find that there is an increase in confidence between 1998 and 2008 and a decrease from 2008 to 2018. All racial groups examined in this study exhibit similar trends and do not have statistically significant differences in rates of confidence.
