The National Survey

To establish what American public thinks about the performance of state and local courts in key areas such as access to justice, timeliness, fairness and equality, and independence and accountability.

To ask questions clarifying what the public believes about basic aspects of court performance and explaining different levels of confidence in and satisfaction with the courts.

To provide a model survey that can be used by individual states and localities wanting to undertake a systematic inquiry into what their public thinks about court performance.

To enhance and refine the knowledge accumulated through surveys conducted previously.

Study Methodology:

Early in 1999, The Indiana Public Opinion Laboratory conducted telephone interviews with approximately 1,200 adults randomly selected from the population. An additional 300 African Americans and 300 Hispanics were also sampled to ensure the findings reflect the voices of the major groups in American society. The total sample reflects 1,825 adults.