NCJ Number
96134
Date Published
1980
Length
503 pages
Annotation
The variable description list and codebook are provided for a nationwide 1977 study of citizen perceptions of and experiences with local, State, and Federal courts, as well as attitudes toward legal actors and the administration of justice.
Abstract
An introduction describes the study and discusses sampling, weighting, file structure, information processing, frequencies, and codebook information. General study objectives were to determine levels of public knowledge about courts; test reactions to situations which might or might not prevent recourse to courts; determine the incidence, nature, and assessments of court experience; describe and account for evaluations of court performances; indicate attitudes toward legal actors; and indicate reactions to alternative means of dispute resolution. Two samples were drawn for the study: a national sample of the general public, described in the codebook; and a 'special publics' sample of judges, lawyers, and community leaders. A single-stage, stratified, replicated random sample was used. The data come in two formats: a card-image file and an OSIRIS data set. Appendixes contain recoded questionnaire items, sample and census distributions, a list of general-public interview sites, a frequencies addendum, and the questionnaire.