Report Accompanying House of Delegates Resolution Public Understanding of Justice System | Trends Affecting Public Knowledge and Confidence Efforts to Educate Public | Professional Responsibility of Lawyers Public Understanding of Justice System In a constitutional democracy, the effectiveness and, indeed, the very survival of the justice system relies essentially on public understanding, trust, and confidence. This is so because our justice system is a public institution that depends on popular participation and support to maintain its authority. The February 1999 ABA survey on public perceptions of the U.S. justice system shows that "there is strong support for the justice system" with more than 80% concurring that "in spite of its problems, the American justice system is still the best in the world."1 When public attitudes towards the specific institutions that make up the justice system are examined in closer detail, however, the survey found greater disparity among respondents' levels of confidence. For instance, although Americans expressed very high levels of confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court, only 14% showed strong confidence in lawyers.2 In addition, when asked factual questions about the justice system, many people's knowledge was quite poor. A central finding of the survey, nevertheless, "reveals that the more knowledge people have about the justice system, the greater their confidence in the justice system overall, as well as in a whole host of its components."3 Fostering public understanding, in short, furthers public confidence and trust in the law and the justice system. Such understanding does not happen automatically, but rather must be learned by each new generation -- and so transmitted by preceding ones. Accordingly, such understanding is also vital to nurturing civic participation in a democracy under the rule of law. As Thomas Jefferson insisted, "I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion."4 As guardians and caretakers, as well as stakeholders, in the justice system, lawyers and judges must foster the public's understanding of and confidence in the law and the justice system. Ultimately, our justice system would perish without such understanding and confidence. As the April 1999 report issued following the ABA-cosponsored national conferences on judicial independence and public understanding and perceptions of the justice system emphasized, "Public confidence not grounded in citizen knowledge is too thin to long support the institutions of self government." 5 1 Executive Summary of "Perceptions of the U.S. Justice System," American Bar Association (prepared by M/A/R/C Research), p. 6. 2 "Perceptions of the U.S. Justice System," p. 7. 3 Ibid. 4 Jefferson, Thomas, Letter to William Charles Jarvis, September 28, 1820. 5 Marshall Jr., D. P. et al., Symposia Report Prepared in Advance of National Conference on Public Trust and Confidence in the Justice System, American Bar Association Symposia Taskforce, April 29, 1999, p.6. Back to Top House of Delegates Resolution