Developing knowledge of the judicial system: a domain specific approach.

Abstract This study examines the relation between knowledge of the judicial system and state and law. A total of 80 Italian children from 1st, 3rd, 5th and 8th grades and 20 University students were interviewed about the judge and other figures involved in court proceedings, about who makes laws and how somebody is able to know the laws. First-graders demonstrated poor knowledge of the judge and attributed the job of inflicting penalties to the police. Third graders described judges as people working on their own and who decide according to their wisdom. From fifth grade on, judges were depicted as public servants paid by the state, but only eighth graders stated that they study and apply the law. Knowledge of other figures involved in court proceedings, such as lawyers, witnesses, and the jury, improved with increasing age. Only university students knew about the Public Prosecutor. The knowledge that laws are made by state organs appeared to precede the notion that the state pays the judge; knowledge that laws are collected in books precedes the knowledge that to become a judge or lawyer one must study law.