Report from the second annual survey on measuring the satisfaction of court users

The analysis of court proceedings participants’ satisfaction was prepared under the Project and aims to measure the satisfaction of the parties in the court proceedings, as well as the effects of the judicial reforms. The analysis was conducted through a multi-target survey in two consecutive years, in 2019 and 2020, in order to measure to what extent the satisfaction of the parties involved in court proceedings has increased or decreased with regard to the performance of courts and the functioning of the justice system.

The subject of research is the trust in judicial institutions, their efficiency, the attitude towards the participants in court proceedings, the expertise and professionalism of judges and public prosecutors and the quality of court proceedings in general. The respondents also assessed the effects of the implementation of the judicial reforms, foreseen in the Judicial Reform Strategy 2017-2022.

From the survey, it can be concluded that the reform is yielding results and improvements have been noticed in all areas. The opinions of judges and public prosecutors are similar. They believe that the quality has improved,
disputes are resolved faster, the operation of courts is more efficient and the expertise and professionalism of all parties involved in the proceedings have improved. They also stated that the working conditions and the resources available to courts and public prosecutors have improved as well, including budget management, strategic planning and policymaking. The system for selecting, appointing and promoting judges and public prosecutors has also been enhanced. In contrast, lawyers have a slightly different opinion and generally think that no major changes have taken place in the analysed areas, that there are some improvements, but generally the situation has deteriorated.

Upon the findings from the survey, we can conclude that the implementation of reforms in all segments should continue.