Who uses the law? : a comparison of users and non-users of the legal system

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were significant differences between those persons who use the legal system and those who do not. The independent variables examined were sex, age, race, employment status, educational level, community satisfaction, organizational affiliation, marital status, income, and experience with the Cook County Juvenile Court system; the dependent variable was the respondent's personal contact with a lawyer.

The data were obtained from Telesurvey of Illinois- Social and Market Research through the Institute for Juvenile Research in Chicago, Illinois. A telephone survey was used to elicit information from the respondents on a number of topics related to lawyer usage and attitudes about the legal system. Their responses on the independent variables were cross-tabulated with the incidence of lawyer use.

The findings of this study were:

1. No significant distinctions were found between users and nonusers of the legal system with respect to the variables of marital status, income, organizational affiliation, sex, or race.

2. Variables found to be significant at the .Ol level were age, community satisfaction, employment status, experience with the juvenile court, and educational level. Examination of age showed that respondents in the age category of thirty-one to fifty were more likely to have had contact with a lawyer than any other age group. Those respondents who reportedly were satisfied with their community were not as likely to have used a lawyer as those who were dissatisfied. The relationship reported between employment status and lawyer use indicated that those persons who were "working full time" were more likely to have used a lawyer than those persons in any other occupational category. A relationship was also reported between lawyer use and experience with the Cook County Juvenile Court system. Those persons who reported that they had had dealings with the juvenile court were the most likely to have used a lawyer. Finally, a positive relationship was reported between education and lawyer use. The more education that a respondent had, the more likely he was to have used the legal system.

It can be concluded that although some significant differences exist between those who use the legal system and those who do not, most differences are slight and inconclusive.