Public perceptions of the courts: An examination of attitudes toward the treatment of victims and accused

Research in both Canada and the United States indicates that the public has become increasingly critical of the criminal justice system. In particular , recent research has pointed out that Canadians feel that court sentences are too lenient and that there exists racial discrimination within the crim inal justice system. Researchers also point out that the public is becoming more punitive and perceives the sentences given out by the courts as too l enient. In this study, we examine Canadians' attitudes towards two specific aspects of the criminal justice system: it's ability to help victims and i t's ability to protect the rights of accused individuals. Our findings indi cate that socio-economic status is an important predictor of public attitud es. Specifically, dissatisfaction with the ability of the courts to help vi ctims of crime, reflecting the issue of protection of society, was most oft en expressed by educated, higher Income respondents. Conversely, dissatisfa ction with the ability of the courts to protect the rights of accused indiv iduals was most often expressed by respondents belonging to lower socioecon omic groups.