Our focus on access to justice stems from the premise that the rule of law is the purest form of public good and core responsibility of the State. It is essential for good quality of life, ease of doing business and inclusive, market-based economic growth. It enables equal workforce participation by reducing vulnerabilities and inequalities and is a facilitator for urbanisation and livelihoods creation. Insecurity, stemming from weak institutions and limited access to justice, is a threat to sustainable development.
At the root of it, a well functioning criminal justice system is essential to establish rule of law, enable equal access to justice, and safeguard fundamental freedoms. Within the criminal justice system, police play a fundamental role—they are the public’s first interface with the criminal justice apparatus and usually the first responder in emergencies. We work closely on police reforms as a means to engender effective rule of law and equal access to justice for all. This includes improving the functioning and responsiveness of this public institution. We believe that the role of research and implementation support can have a catalytic and systemic impact on policing and in turn rule of law, access to justice, and economic growth and empowerment. For this, we work alongside state police organisations to bring incremental changes in an evidence-informed way and pursue independent research and analysis to socialise the innovations.
We also aim to create and curate platforms for multi-stakeholder discussions and anchor convenings with global experts and practitioners on relevant issues to ignite a culture of research and innovation through the power of networking, conversations and cross-sharing of learnings. We launched a webinar series on “State Capacity & Access to Justice” in February 2021 to showcase contemporaneous research and cross-sharing innovative ideas that enhance the state’s capacity to deliver a more equitable and accessible form of justice. The series features ‘pracademics’ and global experts working at cross-sections of justice delivery.
An overview of each session is linked below:
Session 1, Session 2, Session 3, Session 4
You can also view our Safety Trends and Reporting of Crime (SATARC) survey interactive dashboard here.
