Lay participation in judicial decision-making processes and legitimacy of the judicial system in cordoba, Argentina

Tocqueville pointed out that those countries in which juries have existed for many years show strong public trust in the judiciary. It is interesting to ask whether these positive effects on legitimacy are also found where lay participation in judicial decision-making processes is a recent experience. The question is particularly relevant where trust in justice is low, as is the case in Argentina. This paper explores the relation between lay participation in judicial decision-making processes and trust in the justice system in the Argentine province of Cordoba, where mixed tribunals were introduced in 2005 to deal with some aberrant crimes and cases of corruption.

Data obtained in two public opinion studies, conducted in 1993 and 2011 are used to discuss this issue. This paper also compares other survey data (Latinobarometer series 1995-2011) in order to review trends in trust in the judiciary in Argentina. The evidence shows that people who have performed jury service have a better opinion about courts. However, there has been little effect on the perceived legitimacy of the judicial system among common citizens, probably due to the limited scope of lay participation in Cordoba