Seven lead-in questions on public confidence in the effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System: England and Wales
British Crime Survey respondents are asked seven questions about their confidence in the effectiveness of each of the individual agencies that comprise the CJS. This prompts the respondent’s awareness and knowledge of the agencies within the CJS before asking about confidence in the effectiveness of the CJS as a whole. These seven lead-in questions are not used to measure performance.
| 6 months to March 20081 | 12 months to September 2009 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unweighted Base | Aggregated Percentage of | Unweighted Base | Aggregated Percentage of | |
| Question2 | Total | Very /Fairly confident |
Total | Very /Fairly confident |
| Police are effective at catching criminals | 9,906 |
53 |
44,299 |
61* |
| Crown Prosecution Service is effective at prosecuting people accused of committing a crime | 9,506 |
46 |
42,363 |
48* |
| Courts are effective at dealing with cases promptly | 8,960 |
39 |
39,757 |
41 |
| Courts are effective at giving punishments which fit the crime | 9,796 |
23 |
43,648 |
24* |
| Prisons are effective at punishing offenders who have been convicted of a crime | 9,462 |
30 |
42,007 |
29 |
| Prisons are effective at rehabilitating offenders who have been convicted of a crime | 9,193 |
19 |
40,791 |
22* |
| Probation service is effective at preventing criminals from re-offending | 8,908 |
21 |
39,028 |
23* |
| Criminal Justice System as a whole is effective | 9,815 |
37 |
43,741 |
40* |
* Denotes a statistically significant change (at the 5 per cent significance level) from the PSA24 baseline.
1. Comparisons are made between estimates based on 12 months of data (October 2008 to September 2009) and on six months of data (October 2007 to March 2008). Six months to March 08 data are based on interviews with a representative half of the sample for this period. Previous questions on the CJS have not shown seasonality effects therefore it is not anticipated these comparisons will be influenced by this.
2. Analysis excludes don't know/refusal responses.