PSYCHOSOCIAL CORRELATES OF LAW STUDENTS ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM

The purpose of this study was to assess relationship between law students attitudes toward the criminal legal system and their beliefs in a just world, personal experiences with criminal legal system, self reported rule violating behavior and some socio demographic characteristics. In the study 3rd and 4th year law students (N=362 ) from the faculties of law in Osijek, Split and Zagreb participated. The results showed that law students have moderately negative attitude toward the criminal legal system. They are most critical toward police, and have most favorable opinions about public attorneys and judges. The differences among students from different law faculties are not significant. The students assessed that their legal education and the media hade significantly higher impact on their attitudes toward the criminal legal system than their personal experiences. The attitudes toward criminal legal system is significantly correlated with gender (male students have more favorable attitudes), assessment of education (r=0.11; p<0.05), media (r =-0.20; p<0.01) and personal experience (r = -0.16; p < 0.01), and general beliefs in a just world (r=0.33; p<0.01). The results are discussed with the view of improving education of law students.