Promoting Access to Justice Across the Globe: Critical Leadership Role Court Administrators Can Play

Abstract

The past several years have witnessed escalating attention to the limited access to justice that exists in countries across the globe. While the situation plays out in different scenarios, the net effect (among others) is erosion of public confidence and trust in the justice system and the rule of law. To meaningfully address the situation requires being able to first apply measures that can provide an indication of the degree to which individuals can access justice in their respective countries and jurisdictions and, with this information, develop sound, workable strategies to begin to remedy inhibiting factors, as may be applicable. Although the topic of “access to justice” has been addressed extensively over the years, there do not appear to be tools readily available that can be applied globally to begin to document the problem and develop preliminary baseline information from which further efforts can be launched. A major stumbling block has been the lack of adequate case specific data to document the nature and extent of the problem. Because of the diffusion of agencies and practices entailed, there is also no single source of information that can be tapped to delineate the contributing factors and dysfunctions that deny individuals access to justice, and therefore, unless a local effort is specially launched to address the problem, the issue remains primarily in the discussion phase. Court administration leaders can play a key role in filling this information vacuum, providing both leadership and critical baseline information to move the issues within the court’s purview --and which go to the heart of ensuring “access to justice” and “public confidence” -- to the front burner. Recognizing that most courts do not compile information to specifically delineate the degree to which “access to justice” is provided this article suggests four initial areas for the court’s attention that can have universal application regardless of the specific legal structure and system involved, and requisite information that could be fairly readily compiled to delineate the degree to which “access to justice” is being provided: (1) degree to which public information on the court process is available; (2) provision of public defense services; (3) degree to which the court process proceeds expeditiously; and (4) availability of pretrial release options for defendants who do not present a risk to public safety and/or not appearing in court.

Keywords: access to justice, pretrial release, public defense, court delay, public trust and confidence, rule of law

JEL Classification: political science, legal