Nearly six out of ten believe that they could represent themselves in court if they wanted to. But there seems to be a rather large caveat attached to access. And it comes down to money. Only one in three agrees that taking a case to court is affordable. And, nearly nine of ten point to the cost of legal representation as the main barrier.
Glacial speed is seen as a special problem.
I think the perceptions about self-representation are interesting. On one hand, that's good because it speaks to a favorable view of access. But on the other hand, Judges Wapner, Mills and Judy have created unreasonable expectations about the ease of interaction with the court system. I'll have a little more on TV justice in a minute. Let's move now from access to fairness.