Democracy and Perceived Public Confidence in The Judiciary: Roles of Socio-Economy and Gender

Abstract

The study investigated public perception of the judiciary as a fair plank of justice system in Nigeria democracy based on an analysis of the Enugu State Judiciary. Two hundred and sixteen (216) residents of Enugu State from 9 local government areas participated in the study. Participants comprised males and females categorized into 5 social groups - top civil servants above grade level 12, political office holders in the local government and the capital city; petti traders, the unemployed and the underemployed youths. Participants’ age ranged between 25 and 55 years with a mean age of 33.72 years. Data collection was aided by use of Judicial Perception Questionnaire (JPQ) developed by the researchers.Data analysis using two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) indicate significant influence of political class on perception of judiciary as a fair plank of justice system in Nigeria, F(1,212) = 8.15, p<.05. The study revealed non-significant influence of gender and non-significant interaction of political class and gender on the perception of the judiciary as a fair plank of justice system in Nigeria.The results were discussed in terms of their implications for citizen’s attitude change and unbiased judicial reform in Enugu State and Nigeria in general.