Competitive selection to the Supreme Court is one of the main effects of judicial reform on the growing trust in courts – the USAID survey
The level of public trust to the judiciary over the past four years has tripled – from 5% in 2015 to 16% in 2018. When applying the scale of Eurobarometer system which does provide for a possibility for a respondent to give a neutral answer, 20% of respondents express their trust to courts. Such are the results of a survey among Ukrainian citizens, the overwhelming majority of who have not been participants to court proceedings. The results are announced by the USAID “New Justice” Program which conducts sociological surveys for several years in a row. https://newjustice.org.ua/en/news/results-ukrainian-survey-public-justice-sector-professionals-participating-court-proceedings-regarding-judiciary-judicial-reform-perception-corruption-2018/
According to the document published on November 12, 2018, Ukrainians who participated in the survey received basic information about the judiciary and judicial reform on television (69%), from opinions or impressions of acquaintances (38%), from the Internet (32%), from social networks (18%) and only 15% from their own experience.
The survey showed that during the last 24 months only 9% of all respondents had experience in legal proceedings, 8% of which only once. The trust to the judiciary of Ukrainians who participated in court sessions is twice as high as of Ukrainians who mostly receive information on the judiciary from the news.
Within four years the trust of Ukrainians-participants to court proceedings has doubled from 16% in 2015 to 34% in 2018.Ukrainians who participated in court proceedings describe this experience as follows: 60% of citizens agree that the level of qualification of judges was proper, 63% agree with the fact that judges were polite and tactful, 59% said that the work of the court apparatus was well-organized and 53% said that the trial was timely and without delays. At the same time, 42% of citizens say that they had problems and they had to use their connections, acquaintances and other means of influence (in 2017 this figure was 33%).
In 2018 the level of trust to the judiciary of lawyers, the most well-aware group of the population as to the changes taking place in the country increased by 3% – to 41%. “In day-to-day work the Commission is experiencing an increase in lawyers’ trust. The fact that even more professionals in the field of law applied for the second competition to the High Anti-Corruption Court and the Supreme Court than those who applied for the first competition which we conducted in years 2016-2017 is a conclusive evidence that people who professionally follow the changes in administering justice, the judiciary, the competitions we carry out do “foot voting”, that is, they personally take part more actively despite publicity of all the procedures”, said Mr. Sergii Koziakov when commenting survey’s results.
About 70% of lawyers consider renewal of the judiciary and evaluation of judges to be the positive effect of judicial reform on raising the level of citizens’ trust to courts. In particular, the competitive selection for the Supreme Court (78%), introducing qualification evaluation of a judge (76%), restricting judicial immunity to functional (68%), return to the tripartite court system (64%), the cancellation of powers of the President of Ukraine to transfer and appoint judges (60%) are considered to be positive results. 64% of the polled professionals in the field of law support the establishment of a new Supreme Court instead of the old one and the high specialized courts, 78% welcome the possibility for advocates to apply for the position of a judge of the Supreme Court and the High Anti-Corruption Court and 52% support the same opportunity for academicians.
49% of polled professionals in the field of law are convinced that Ukrainian judiciary can become the basis for overcoming corruption in all branches of power, 46% consider the establishment of NABU to be a necessary step of Ukraine, while 42% of respondents are convinced that the establishment of the High Anti-Corruption Court will have a positive impact on the fight against corruption.
When asked what body exactly a citizen will address to counter direct or indirect offer to give a bribe to a judge, 15% of the respondents said that they would address the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, and this indicator has increased significantly. By the way, the HQCJ has the highest level of trust among the population as a body where to ask for protection after the law enforcement agencies. In particular, of the respondents, 44% of the population would apply to the prosecutor’s office, 41% to the police, 35% to NABU, 14% to NACP, 10% to the Council of Judges, 9% to the High Council of Justice.
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