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POLITICS

58% Trust Jury More To Determine Guilt or Innocence, 27% Trust Judge

Consistent with trust in individual citizens rather than government officials, most adults nationwide still trust a jury over a judge to determine the innocence or guilt of a defendant. However, faith in juries is down a bit following the Casey Anthony verdict.

A solid majority (58%) still trust a jury more than a judge to determine the guilt or innocence of someone accused of criminal defendants. However, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that 27% now trust a judge more. That’s up from 14% in April. Another 15% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

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The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on July 7-8, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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