Small Towns and the Big City: Examining Differences in the Work of Croatian Mixed Tribunals

Abstract

This paper examines differences in perceptions about the work of mixed tribunals with respect to city size. Mixed tribunals are decision-making bodies in which professional and lay judges jointly decide criminal cases. Detailed questionnaires were distributed to 56 professional judges, 175 lay judges, 40 state attorneys, and 102 attorneys in two different regions of Croatia in 1993. Because the respondents' role in the criminal justice system and legal education (or lack thereof) were related to the selection of the answers, the data were separately analyzed with respect to the size of the city for each category of respondents. Some differences were found in perceptions of the work of the tribunals (e.g., the reported frequency of reading the case file) and in general opinions about mixed tribunals. No differences were found, for example, in the reported frequency of lay judges' questions or comments during proceedings.

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