Honors Theses

Date of Award

5-2025

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Degree Name

BA

Department

Political Science and Criminal Justice

Faculty Mentor

Jaclyn Brunch, Ph.D.

Advisor(s)

Dalten Fox, Ph.D., Corina Schulze, Ph.D.

Abstract

Civilians and legal scholars alike often speculate how judges rule and what contributes to their decision-making. Acknowledging this conundrum and combining it with my own interests in the legal field, I attempt to explore how some judges located within Mobile County perceive public opinion and what factors direct their rulings over their respective case dockets. Through seven, semi-structured interviews, I ask each judge a series of questions regarding their backgrounds, decision-making methodologies, thoughts on public opinion relevancy, and application of their approaches to their judgeships. Analysis of the interviewees’ responses reveals data that suggests the judges have a somewhat ambivalent relationship with public opinion. While most judges denied public opinion influencing their decision-making, all judges indicated that maintaining public confidence represents an important element of their profession. However, determining factors the group unanimously turns toward are the legal facts and arguments presented within a case. Though, depending on the specific court procedure and allowance of the law in question, the judges may consider a party’s nonlegal circumstances. Future research should explore interview-styled studies with judicial leaders to glean more information on this or other topics, especially within other regions in or outside the U.S.

Comments

© 2025 Bella Gin, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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