The Impact of the Community Court Model on Defendant Perceptions of Fairness A Case Study at the Red Hook Community Justice Center

Executive Summary This report presents the results of a research project comparing defendant perceptions of fairness in the Red Hook Community Justice Center (Red Hook) and a traditional centralized criminal court. Nearly 400 defendants, who were seen at either Red Hook or the traditional court in summer 2005, took part in a survey comparing their perceptions of the treatment they received. The survey evaluated the effects of court location (Red Hook or the traditional court), defendant background (race, ethnicity, sex and socioeconomic status), the outcome of their current court case (dismissed or required to return to court; required to attend drug treatment or not), and the stage of their case at the time of the survey (arraignment or subsequent court appearance). Structured courtroom observations supplemented the results of the survey and helped to generate richer explanations about why different defendants might have perceived their court experiences as fair or unfair. Among other outcomes, community courts seek to improve public confidence in the courts and to encourage law-abiding behavior. Previous research shows that when defendants perceive their treatment to be fair, they are more likely to accept the decisions of the court, comply with court-imposed sanctions, and obey the law in the future (Tyler and Huo 2002). This study provides the first-ever evaluation of the success of a community court in improving upon the traditional court's capacity to ensure that defendants leave court believing they were treated fairly. This research project had two main goals: 1) to compare defendant perceptions of fairness at the Red Hook Community Justice Center and the traditional criminal court and 2) to identify the predictors of defendant perceptions. Since effective communication as well as respectful and fair treatment of defendants are important tenets of the community court model, we focus on how each of these elements affects defendants' overall perceptions of fairness. Major findings: x The community court was considered to be more fair than the traditional court. In addition to offering a wider range of non-incarcerative sentences (including social and community services), community courts such as the Red Hook Community Justice Center offer a more transparent and collaborative atmosphere for defendants. The services, transparency and collaboration characteristic of the community court model heighten defendant perceptions of fairness. x Defendant responses to the traditional criminal court were also relatively positive. Although defendant responses to Red Hook were generally more positive than the traditional court, at least …