Public Opinion, the
Legislature, and the
Court System
Court Systems and Practices
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Public Opinion
• What the majority of the public thinks about
a topic
• It is measured using things such as
– Polls and surveys
– Elections
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The Legislature
• The branch of government that makes the laws
that the court system rules on
• In the end, the legislature is influenced by
public opinion since lawmakers are elected
officials that must keep their constituents
happy to get reelected
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How the Public Opinion Affects
the Court System
Many times judges hold elected positions. If the
majority of their voters do not agree with their
philosophies on rulings, they can be voted out.
The elected judges may have this in mind as they
make decisions
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How the Public Opinion Affects
the Court System (continued)
District Attorneys are elected positions for each
county, and they are the ones who make the
ultimate decision on whether or not to prosecute
someone or how they should prosecute
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How the Public Opinion Affects
the Court System (continued)
If there is a jury trying the case, they may have
to be sequestered so they are not influenced by
the media
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How the Public Opinion Affects
the Court System (continued)
Jury members may not want to face scrutiny for
their decisions, especially if they had already
prejudged the case or know how their friends and
family members would think about the case
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How the Legislature
Affects the Court System
• The legislature determines what is or is not a
crime, thus determining what cases the court
gets to decide on
• The legislature passes laws that may affect the
way courts function:
– Mandatory sentencing
– The class of the crime and what court hears it, such
as a misdemeanor instead of a felony court
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How the Court System
Affects Itself
• If a similar case has been ruled on before, the judge
may lean on the precedent already set
• This occurs throughout the country with Supreme
Court decisions
• Other relevant cases are automatically decided or
reversed based on what the Supreme Court rules
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How the Court System
Affects Itself (continued)
Lawmakers then decide what
could or could not be made
against the law based on
how the courts have ruled on
similar laws and issues
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Historical Influence
• In the past, there was a private prosecution
system where the victims had the power and
responsibility to prosecute crimes
• By the time of the American Revolution a
public prosecution system was in place
• Crimes then became public concerns instead of
just private concerns
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Historical Influence (continued)
• It was not as much about the individual being
the victim as society being the victim
• This kept sentences from being as vindictive
• Starting in the 1960s, the pendulum started to
swing the other way with more emphasis on
the individual instead of the community
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Factors of Influence
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•
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•
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Politics
The type of crime or issue
The victim
The suspect
The media
Lobbyists
Religion
The public’s knowledge about the issue
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Politics
• This ties back to the legislature and elections
• There are normally two philosophies that
dominate lawmakers and judges:
– Liberalism
– Conservatism
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Politics (continued)
• Liberals
– Value self expression
– Value individual privacy, such as matters of
religious or sexual preferences
– Demand social control in the commercial sphere
– At the workplace or in the stock markets
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Politics (continued)
• Conservatives
– Focus on self control in individual privacy matters
– Defend untempered self expression in the
commercial sphere for employers and producers
– Oppose government restrictions on the
marketplace
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Type of Crime or Issue
People are opinionated about some crimes or
topics. Lawmakers and courts may have to vote
or decide on these issues with public opinion in
mind. Some of them are
– The death penalty
– Gay marriage
– Abortion
– Sex crimes
– Healthcare
– Gun rights
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Type of Crime or Issue (continued)
If someone has been a victim
or suspect of a specific crime
he or she may have a
reaction to it that others
would not have
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Type of Victim or Suspect
Decisions of the court system have shown to be
greatly affected by who the victim is. Some of
the factors that influence these decisions are
– Social class
– Sex
– Race
– Age
– Celebrity status
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Type of Victim or Suspect
(continued)
Celebrity status
– Most people agree that O.J. Simpson was found
not guilty for the double murder charge because of
his status
– The same with Michael Jackson and his sex crime
charges
– On the other hand, former New York Giants wide
receiver Plaxico Burress received the maximum
amount of punishment for illegally carrying a gun
in New York City because the district attorney
wanted to make an example of him
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Type of Victim or Suspect
(continued)
Those who know the suspect or victim may have
a certain opinion about how the case should be
handled
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Media
• The news agencies and newspapers have a lot
of power in deciding what they will and will
not cover
• If they don’t cover a topic, the public may not
be knowledgeable enough about it to form an
opinion
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Media (continued)
If a reporter has a bias for or against the topic, he
or she may not including certain facts about the
topic and try to influence what the public thinks
about it
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Media (continued)
What people see in the movies or on TV can
influence them. This can be a problem:
– Sometimes the producers have a bias and are
trying to appeal to people’s emotions about the
topic while not including all of the facts
– Producers and actors are in the business to
make money and are more concerned about the
entertainment value instead of making sure all
of the facts are right
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Lobbyists
Lobbyists
– People who are paid by companies or
organizations to represent their interests to
lawmakers and influence the way lawmakers vote
in favor of whom they represent
– Lots of money is paid to lobbyists to do this
– The more money an effort has, the better
representation and influence they have with
lawmakers
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Religion
Religion
– Many people form their beliefs about
issues based on their religion
– A lot of the religions have common
beliefs on the same issues
– Protest groups and lobbyists may
represent groups made up mostly of
religious people with these shared
beliefs on a particular topic
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The Public’s Knowledge
about the Issue
Wrong perception of the crime or issue
– The public may want harsher penalties on crimes
that statistically are not as bad as the media claims
– The public may not realize the impact certain laws
will have, even on their own way of life, until after
they are passed
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The Public’s Knowledge
About the Issue (continued)
Incorrect perceptions about the criminal justice
system that have the public demanding harsher
penalties
– Assumptions that criminals do not take
responsibility for their actions
– The belief that prisoners do not do anything in
prison but watch television, and don’t serve their
whole sentence
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The Public’s Knowledge
About the Issue (continued)
The public has the tendency to see itself as a
potential victim instead of a potential suspect of
a crime
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Resources
• 0201622742, It’s All The Rage: Crime and
Culture, Wendy Kaminer, 1995.
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