Pour ceux qui doivent passer en cour, de nombreux aspects de l'atmosphère de la salle d'audience pourraient sembler désagréables. Des problèmes généraux comme des retards, de la confusion et des comportements non professionnels pourraient mener à des évaluations plus globales de l'ensemble du système de justice, peu importe si les gens sentent qu'ils ont été traités, personnellement, de manière raisonnable par différents acteurs du tribunal. On a exploré ce phénomène en interrogeant des jeunes après leur première comparution en cour et en évaluant indépendamment l'atmosphère d'ensemble de la salle d'audience. On a découvert que peu importe comment les jeunes perçoivent le traitement qu'ils ont reçu, l'atmosphère de la salle d'audience était statistiquement étroitement liée à leur évaluation globale de la légitimité du système de justice pénale. Ceux qui ont perçu de la confusion et un manque de professionnalisme avaient tendance à juger l'ensemble du système de justice comme étant moins valable que ceux qui ont vécu une meilleure expérience.Mots clés : justice en matière de procédure, atmosphère de la salle d'audience, perception des jeunes contrevenants, tribunal pour adolescents For those who are negotiating their way through court, there are potentially many aspects of the court-room atmosphere that can be perceived as 6 2010 CJCCJ/RCCJP

It is assumed that legitimacy of the legal system is important, yet almost nothing is known about how young offenders view this institution. A sample of youths were interviewed at their first appearance in court and asked about their feelings regarding how they have been treated (procedural justice) by their lawyer, by the crown attorney, and by the judge, as well as their views on the overall legitimacy of the legal system. Youths were again interviewed at sentencing, using the same questionnaire, to explore changes in their views over time. Generally, it appears that how youths feel they have been treated— specifically, by their own lawyer and by the judge—affected broad views of legitimacy, even when controlling for their overall satisfaction of the outcome of their case.

Relationships between police and minority groups have been shown to be strained with members of these groups often viewing police in a more negative light. Distinguishing between minority group and immigrant populations, more recent work has shown that foreign-born individuals are more likely to view the police in a more favourable light than native-born populations. Adding to this literature, we examine group-specific factors that shape foreign-born individuals’ views of the police. We find that country of origin and length of settlement are important factors in better understanding immigrants’ perceptions of the police. The study concludes with a discussion of trust in police and recommendations for future research.

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