User-Centric Approach: Investigating Satisfaction with Portuguese Justice Services

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the civilizational modifications themselves drove to an increase in the flow of legal actions; however, the courts were not adequately prepared to support this increase, which resulted in an overload of cases and consequently in significant delays. This situation led to a latent dissatisfaction among litigants and seriously undermined the protection of rights. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to analyze the levels of satisfaction among the Portuguese population regarding their justice system. In order to achieve the proposed objective, a quantitative methodology was chosen, specifically employing the use of SPSS AMOS software to apply structural equation modeling techniques. The data used for this statistical analysis were gathered from questionnaires administered between the years 2013 and 2022. The research findings allowed us to conclude that many of the problems identified in the justice system in the 1990s seem to persist to this day. Regarding the public perception of the courts, it can be inferred that the population remains unsatisfied with two main aspects: lack of expediency and lack of access to information. As for ADR mechanisms, users seem to be quite satisfied with their functioning.