Replication Data for: Why Do People Use Informal Justice? Experimental Evidence from Kosovo

Why do some people resolve disputes through the state, while others use religious or customary justice? We address this question conducting a vignette experiment in Kosovo. We design hypothetical situations in which fictitious characters are involved in disputes regarding inheritance, debt, domestic violence, and murder. We vary information concerning i) vignette characters' resources, ii) their beliefs about the efficiency of state justice, and iii) dispute settlement customs in the characters' communities. Survey respondents assess whether a vignette character is likely to seek informal justice, given the described circumstances. We find that respondents associate informal justice with characters who believe that the state would resolve their disputes very slowly, and whose other community members would not use state justice. These findings generalize to respondents' own justice preferences and patterns of actual informal dispute settlement in Kosovo and beyond. Our article highlights efficiency concerns and local conventions as explanations of informal justice.

为何部分群体选择通过国家司法途径解决纠纷，而另一部分群体则诉诸宗教或习俗性正义？针对这一问题，我们在科索沃开展了一项情境实验（vignette experiment）。我们设计了多组假设情境，虚构角色卷入继承、债务、家庭暴力与谋杀四类纠纷。我们对三项信息维度进行变量设置：一是情境角色的资源状况，二是其对国家司法效率的认知，三是其所在社区的纠纷解决习俗。调查受访者需结合给定情境，评估该虚构角色诉诸非正式正义的可能性。研究结果表明，受访者会将倾向于寻求非正式正义的角色，与那些认为国家司法解决纠纷速度极慢、且其所在社区其他成员不会使用国家司法渠道的群体相关联。该研究结论可推广至受访者自身的正义偏好，以及科索沃乃至全球范围内实际发生的非正式纠纷解决模式。本文着重以效率考量与地方习俗为视角，解释非正式正义的选择逻辑。