在民主體制中,政治機構能否得到「公共支持」(public support)是獲致「制度合法性」(institutional legitimacy)的重要基礎,而司法體系也不例外。本研究以「公共支持」觀點切入,探討台灣民眾對於司法體系的比較評價。作者擷取「2002年至2004年『選舉與民主化調查』三年期研究規劃(Ⅱ):民國九十二年民主化與政治變遷民調案」資料,瞭解民眾對於法院和各類政治機構的信任程度,並且將司法評價區分為「法院信任」、「公正調查」、「公平審判」、「司法獨立」等四個面向,前三個面向使用「勝算對數模型」(logitmodels)、第四個面向採用「多項勝算對數模型」(multinomial logitmodel)進行檢證。分析結果顯示,相對於其他政治機構,民眾對於法院的信任程度甚高,將近七成民眾抱持肯定的態度。此外,相對而言,年齡、教育程度、政治知識、政治功效意識等變數,與「法院信任」、「公正調查」、「公平審判」等司法評價具有較為顯著的相關性;至於以往國內經驗研究證實的若干重要因素,諸如族群認同、統獨立場、政黨認同等,對於「司法獨立」(當前政府與蔣經國政府時期的比較評價)較具顯著影響。在結論中,本文認為司法體系應可成為研究台灣政治發展的另一重要領域。
In a democracy, any given governmental branch needs public support for the fundamentals of institutional legitimacy, and the judiciary is no exception. This study examines the popular views and evaluations of the judicial system in Taiwan. I employ the ”2003 Taiwan Election and Democratization Study: Democratization and Political Transition” (TEDS 2003) survey date to assess the public's attitudes toward courts and other political institutions, and thereupon the factors influencing public support for the judicial system. Methodologically, the judicial evaluations are classified into four factors-”confidence in courts,” ”impartial prosecutions,” ”fair trials,” and ”judicial independence.” The findings reveal that, compared with other political institutions, popular confidence in courts is relatively high, with approximately 70 percent of the people holding positive evaluations. The results also confirm that the variables of age, educational attainment, political knowledge and political efficacy exert significant effects on the three public views of the judiciary, i.e., confidence in the courts, impartial prosecutions, and fair trials. In addition, the variables of Taiwanese-Chinese consciousness, unification-independence preference, and party identification have considerable influences on judicial independence.