ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the relationship between perceptions of court shows and perceptions of courts. It analyzes national survey data to test whether people think court shows influence their perceptions of actual courts and people’s actual feelings towards the courts. Despite a growing body of literature on court shows scholars have not yet reached consensus on whether court shows influence perceptions of state courts. The National Center for State Courts is one of the few available datasets asking how respondents feel about court shows. The dataset purposely oversampled people of color and people with court experience, which helps us see whether race or personal court experience influence perceptions of the courts. Chi-square enables us to determine whether responses to the question about how important court shows are to one’s perceptions of state courts differ significantly by race, gender, income, and recent court experience as a litigant.
