Justice

Justice overview

The resources below place justice reform in a broad context and emphasise the importance of sector-wide working and close attention to taking into account the perspectives of the poor.

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Where is a good place to start?

Carothers, T. 2003, 'Promoting the Rule of Law Abroad: The Problem of Knowledge', Rule of Law Series no. 34, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington
This paper from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace considers the apparent lack of knowledge supporting rule-of-law projects in developing countries. There is a surprising amount of uncertainty about the rationale for rule-of-law promotion and what actually constitutes the ‘rule of law’. There is limited knowledge about how system changes occur and what long-term effects specific changes will have on the development of the rule of law.
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Davis, K. E. and Trebilcock, M. J., 2008, ‘The Relationship Between Law and Development: Optimists versus Skeptics’, New York University Law School, New York
Is legal reform always an appropriate tool for promoting development in the global South? This article from the American Journal of Comparative Law argues that donors should adopt a cautious approach to investing in legal reform without further empirical study. While there are grounds for a guarded optimism about the impact of legal reform, numerous fundamental issues remain unresolved and open to debate. Empirical studies have produced consensus about the importance of institutions overall, but much less agreement about legal institutions in particular.
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DFID’s approach to the justice sector aims to promote safety for all from violence and intimidation, security of personal property and equality of access to justice.  The approach, named ‘Safety, Security and Access to Justice’ (SSAJ), is innovative among donor organisations for three reasons.  Firstly, interventions aim to strengthen links across the whole justice sector, rather than working with individual institutions.  Secondly, DFID’s approaches are designed from the perspective of users, particularly poor people and vulnerable groups.  Thirdly, DFID uses a broad definition of the justice sector that includes non-state (or informal) justice and security systems, and takes these into account as part of a sector-wide strategy.

Department for International Development 2000, 'Justice and Poverty Reduction: Safety, Security and Access to Justice for All', DFID, London.
The aim of this policy paper is to assist DFID's mission to improve the security and welfare of the world's poorest people through improving their access to justice. It observes that the burden of crime and civil disputes falls most heavily upon the poorest and most vulnerable sectors of society who are also those least able to access the justice system. Insecurity and lack of access to justice also have a wider economic cost, as resources are diverted from social welfare into policing, revenue is lost to invisible trade, assets are damaged or stolen, and consequently investment is discouraged.
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Department for International Development, 2002, 'Guidance Note: Putting SSAJ Policy Into Practice', DFID, London.
This guidance note from DFID's Governance Department helps to operationalise DFID policies. However, it warns that each case should be treated individually and that the guidelines should not be read as a manual. All justice systems are different and have many components. Justice matters to poor people. The impact of theft, for example, is more severe if the victim is poor; and a lack of access to justice fosters corruption.
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Department for International Development, 2008, 'Guidance Note: Justice and Accountability', DFID, London
This guidance note illustrates the relevance of justice sector reform for promoting accountability: political accountability, bottom-up participatory accountability, and accountability within the justice sector. It provides examples of DFID programmes.
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Sector-wide working

DFID emphasises sector-wide approaches to the justice sector, with a broad definition of the institutions involved. This approach spans legal and judicial reform projects, access to justice programs, and police and penal reform. There is an increasing tendency to use such approaches where appropriate, and a general commitment that interventions in particular areas must contribute to the effectiveness of the sector as a whole.

The following toolkit is a practical guide to assist with assessment of criminal justice systems (covering policing; access to justice; custodial and non-custodial measures; and cross-cutting issues) and implementation of criminal justice reform.  The toolkit is continually adapted, enhanced and updated on an ongoing basis.

UNODC, 2006, ‘Criminal Justice Assessment Toolkit’, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna
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The following GSDRC helpdesk report looks at best practice and lessons learned in Sector Wide Approaches (SWAps), particularly relating to the justice sector.

GSDRC, 2007, 'SWAps and Justice', Helpdesk Research Report, GSDRC, Birmingham
There is a good range of material on lessons learned from SWAPs, primarily from the health and education sectors. Most of the resources mention the need for country ownership of the SWAP, gender mainstreaming and long-term support that is tailored to the country context. Other repeated advice is to ‘go slowly’, focus on capacity building and to involve the Ministry of Finance from the beginning. Two of the resources included here discuss the difficulty of introducing SWAps in a post-conflict environment like Afghanistan.
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The following two documents provide information on the Ugandan Justice, Law and Order Sector (JLOS) programme, one of the most well-established such programmes:

Sserumaga, S., 2003, 'Sector-Wide Approaches in the Administration of Justice and Promoting the Rule of Law: the Ugandan Experience', Seminar on the Rule of Law, European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights, 3-4 July 2003, Brussels
Since the end of 1999, the Ugandan government has worked to plan and implement a medium-term reform plan for its justice, law and order sector. This paper, delivered at a European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights seminar, outlines the achievements and challenges of this sector-wide approach. It also provides insight into the role of donors in such programmes.
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A more local-level approach to integrating the many institutions involved in the justice system, is USAID's Justice Centres approach. This model emphases coordination of all personnel, including judges, public defenders, prosecutors, private law practitioners, police, and municipal representatives, in order to improve justice services. 

Hendrix, S, 2000, 'Guatemalan 'Justice Centers': the centerpiece for advancing transparency, efficiency, due process and access to justice' report prepared for USAID.
An efficient and transparent justice system is crucial to reduce corruption opportunities and impunity. Conflict tends to weaken or destroy, not only the justice sector, but the state itself, making it incapable of dealing with human rights issues. After a terrible history of genocide and human rights abuse in Guatemala, it was recognised that the justice system was flawed and that establishing a rule of law was needed. To address these concerns a new operational model – the Justice Centre – was developed. This USAID article asks how effective has this initiative been to revitalise a deficient justice system?
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Perspectives of users

DFID emphasises the importance of poor people's experience of justice systems. Consultations from around the world show that civil disputes have a disproportionate effect on the poor, and that justice systems tend to be inaccessible and biased against them. Paying attention to these experiences can help to improve the effectiveness of justice sector interventions. The documents below present findings from surveys, participatory research and social audits in different countries.

Government of Uganda, 2002, 'Participatory Poverty Assessment on Safety, Security, and Access to Justice: Voices of the Poor in Uganda', The Republic of Uganda Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Justice, Law and Order Sector
What are the constraints faced by the poor in Uganda in terms of safety, security and access to justice? How can Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS) give “voice” to the concerns of the poor? This first ever Uganda ParticipatoryPoverty Assessment is an initiative from the J/LOS to consult the poor as end-users of justice, safety, security and order issues.
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The Asia Foundation, 2001, 'Survey Report on Citizen's Perceptions of the Indonesian Justice Sector: Preliminary Findings and Recommendations', The Asia Foundation, San Francisco.
There have been few opportunities for ordinary citizens in Indonesia to participate in legal reform actions. Yet, what are their perceptions and experiences of the justice sector? This report by the Asia Foundation addresses the above question, drawing on data from a qualitative and quantitative study. The study focuses on the choices that the Indonesians make in resolving legal disputes and their familiarity with the procedures of the formal institutions. It also looks at the factors that influence the Indonesians’ preference for solutions and their level of satisfaction with chosen courses of action.
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Sanz-Ramos Rojo, S. 2001 'The Barangay Justice System in the Philippines: Is it an Effective Alternative to Improve Access to Justice for Disadvantaged People?' MA dissertation prepared for IDS, Brighton, UK.
Can community mediation programmes improve access to justice for everyone, including the most disadvantaged? Do they really deliver speedy, cost-effective and good quality justice through non-adversarial processes? This MA dissertation from the Institute for Development Studies looks at the benefits of one such programme – the Barangay Justice System (BJS) in the Philippines.
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Deepa, N., Chambers, R., Shah, M.K., and Petesch, P., 2000, 'Voices of the Poor: Crying Out for Change',  published for the World Bank, Oxford University Press, New York
The World Bank Voices of the Poor study highlighted how in many countries, the police and the judiciary are inaccessible and persecute poor people. Experiences of the poor in different regions are summarised in Chapter 8: Anxiety, Fear and Insecurity, particularly the sections on 'crime and violence' and 'persecution by the police and the lack of justice'.
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Excerpts from Genn, H, 1999, 'Paths to Justice: What do People Think About Going to Law?', Hart Publishing, Oxford, UK in 'Sourcebook on Access to Justice', Messick, R. and Beardsley, L., WorldBank Empowerment Retreat May 7-8, Washington, USA.
In an attempt to fill some of the existing information void, this book from Hart Publishing presents the results of a survey of public attitudes towards the civil justice system. The survey explored the behaviour of the public in dealing with potential legal disputes and problems, as well as potential plaintiffs or potential defendants. It identified the strategies adopted by those involved in potentially justiceable events to resolve or conclude the matter, use of courts and ADR; and the factors that propel litigants towards the legal system. It also identified structural factors, or lack of knowledge, which prevent access to the legal system where it is desired. The survey further assessed the effect of this lack of access to the formal legal system of individuals.
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What other resources are available on the GSDRC?

• View all justice documents from the GSDRC document library
• View all justice helpdesk reports from the GSDRC research helpdesk.
• Further resources on justice and social exclusion, including on women, children and marginalised groups can be found in the ‘human rights, gender and social exclusion’ section of this guide.

Additional information resources

• Global Facilitation Network-Security Sector Reform (GFN-SSR)
  The GFN-SSR facilitates information exchange among policy-makers, practitioners and civil society organisations involved security sector reform and provides access to a range of documents on security and justice sector reform.
• The Indicators in Development: Safety and Justice project is part of the Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management. It aims to equip government and civil society organisations to design their own indicators, routinely assess those indicators, and use them to drive meaningful reform in the justice sector.
• International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy (ICCLR)
  The ICCLR provides analysis, research and consultation on international criminal justice policy development.  It also facilitates sharing of expertise to promote good governance, rule of law, and human rights.
• International Institute for Justice and Development (IIJD)
  The IIJD promotes the development of an independent judiciary and access to free and fair justice systems nationally and internationally. It provides tools for accessing national justice systems and implementing reforms.
• Open Society Justice Initiative
  The Open Society Justice Initiative, an operational program of the Open Society Institute (OSI), pursues law reform activities grounded in the protection of human rights, and contributes to the development of legal capacity for open societies worldwide.
• Eldis key issues guide on Law and Governance

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