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Show State courts are respected but not understood By SARAH HANSEN Although not understood, the state court system is generally respected, was the conclusion drawn from a recent Dan Jones poll on public attitudes and knowledge of the courts. This poll was the first of several surveys aimed at determining deter-mining the needs and expectations of the general public, and specific groups served by the courts. The majority of Utahns were less confident in the state courts than they were in the U.S. Presidency, the medical profession, and organized religion, but were more confident in the Utah court system than in the state legislature, the media, and the legal profession. 72 percent of Utahns thought the state courts were "doing a good job"; 22 percent disagreed, and 6 percent were undecided. About 60 percent of Utah adults have attended attend-ed a court proceeding in some capacity (juror, witness, visitor, defendant, etc.) The remaining 40 percent have never set foot in a courtroom. 93 percent of Utahns believe that the state courts are in need of at least "some reform" despite general support for the system, Common complaints about the system were delay, cost, and length. 98 percent said "too much delay before the trial" was either a somewhat serious or very serious problem. 86 percent said "cost of litigation" was at least somewhat serious, and 85 percent placed "unreasonably lengthy court proceedings" pro-ceedings" in the very or somewhat serious category. State Court Administrator William Vickrey of Bountiful blames the media for the public's perceptions. "National headlines tell us about people waiting for years to get into court, and these long delays are a terrible problem in many states. But Utah courts are not burdened with a large backlog of cases. Lawyers with large caseloads actually complain tht cases are being be-ing scheduled too quickly for them to keep up," he said. "What people hear about are the murder trials which go through years of appeal in the federal court system. The state courts have no control over these appeals, but we often get blamed for them. According to Vickrey, lengthy trials are very much the exception ex-ception in the Utah system, and the average time for disposing of cases is far below that of most other states. Access to the state court system is a considerable concern voiced by Utahns. Many expressed hesitancy to use the Utah Courts system, even when they felt they had good reason to. 69 percent stated "cost" as a probable or definite reason. 65 percent per-cent said going to court was "too much hassle." 39 percent referred to "lack of adequate legal representation represen-tation in court" as a factor. 38 percent per-cent said they were hesitant because they "didn't know how to go about it" 31 percent said they would probably or definitely be deterred because they were "intimidated or frightened' ' by the prospect. According to the survey, people gain their knowledge from three major sources: television news, newspapers and other print media, and formal education. Far behind on the list were "in-court experiences," experi-ences," contacts with someone in the legal system, and TV entertainment entertain-ment programs. Apparently these information sources have not done a very good job in informing the public about their court system. Virtually everyone every-one polled (99 percent) knew that everyone accused of a serious crime has the right to be representedin court by a lawyer. 89 percent were aware that the highest court in the state has the power to overrule decisions deci-sions made in lower state courts. But over a third (34 percent) thought that it was up to the person accused of a crime to prove his innocence, in-nocence, although in the American justice syste, the accused person is always assumed innocent until proven pro-ven guilty. An even greater concern was that a majority of respondents (52 percent) believed that "a county coun-ty attorney's job is to defend someone some-one who is accused of a crim and who cannot afford a lawyer. County attorneys do not defend accused criminals, but rather prosecute pros-ecute them on behalf of the county or state. w The courts and how they function was another item of public ignorance. ig-norance. Many believed the Justice Courts were the highest level trial courts in the state. These courts, formerly called the Justice of the Peace Courts, are in fact the lowest rung on the court ladder. The highest state trial courts are District Courts. 83 percent of the public was unaware of the sweeping reforms in the last five years which placed all of the local courts under a single state system, added an entirely new court, (the Court of Appeals), adn completley revamped the way courts are governed. Utahns also blame the media for their lack of knowledge. 68 percent answered "no"to the following question: "Besides sensational trials, do you feel media coverage is adequate to show how the court system really works?" Only 32 percent had seen or read any media coverage of the state court system in the last month. The largest number of those remembering a specific item referred to various murder cases. The Utahns polled expressed either strong favor or disfavor towards several court reform proposals. pro-posals. 87 percent strongly or somewhat favored establishing alternatives for resolving minor disputes. An equal number supported sup-ported the idea of seeking non-court alternatives for handling divorce cases. 92 percent favored a "hot line" for answering legal questions. Few, however, favored some of the tort reforms (recommendations for changing laws about liability and damages). 72 percent believed that people probably or definitely would nave the right to employ a lawyer on a contingency fee basis (the lawyer is paid a percentage of the award if the client wins, nothing if the client loses). 63 percent oppose outlawing these fees. Commission Chair Roy Simmons said, "We are not surprised by the public's low level of knowledge about the courts, but neither are we satisfied. A major goal of 'Doing Utah Justice' public information project is to use every means possible possi-ble to get through to the people of Utah about the many important ways that the justice system affects their lives. ' ' The poll of 612 interviews was conducted April 19-26. The error range is plus or minus 4 percent. r |