Justice Indicators
Jim Parsons jparsons@vera.org Monica Thornton mthornton@vera.org
Vera Institute of Justice www.vera.org/indicators
Presentation outline Terms Strategic objectives for the justice sector Principles of indicator development Data sources Example
Some terms Objective Indicator
Data sources
Indicator
Indicator
Data sources
Data sources
Objectives i) Strategic: cross-cutting; international ii) Institutional: institution/program specific; national iii) Activity: describing work; local
Strategic objectives of the justice sector To secure equal access to systems of justice To provide for citizen’s personal safety across the divides of poverty and gender To ensure fair and humane treatment for those who are held on suspicion or convicted of crimes
Principles of indicator development Indicators are always proxies Indicators should be used in ‘baskets’ It is important to include indicators from a range of sources The simpler the better Disaggregation
Data sources Administrative databases Surveys Third-party reports Legislation
Measuring access to justice Indicator 1: Percentage of accused not represented at trial Indicator 2: No. of new courts opened in rural and urban areas with concentrations of marginalized populations Indicator 3: Number of courts per 100,000 residents
An alternative approach 1: % of accused persons legally represented at one or more court appearances in their cases* 2: % of citizens who say that they have access to court systems to resolve disputes* 3: % of citizens who say that the police will respond to them without requiring a bribe if called to resolve a dispute* 4: Ratio of prosecution caseloads in courts serving wealthier communities to those in courts serving marginalized communities *disaggregated by income, gender, ethnicity, region, and geography
Possible data sources Strategic Objective Increased access to justice % of citizens who report they could access courts*
% of accused who are legally represented*
ratio of prosecution caseload in rich vs. poor areas*
•Household survey •Targeted surveys • Interviews with community leaders •Targeted focus groups
•Court records •Lawyers ‘timesheets’ •Targeted courtroom observations
•Prosecution records •Survey of chief prosecutors •Court activity/no. of prosecutors
* Disaggregated by geography, gender, poverty, ethnicity and age
Conclusions It is important to use several indicators, to control for ambiguity Measures of activity tend to miss the most vulnerable The choice of indicators should span institutions Strategic objectives may be equivalent to UNDP core objectives The indicators and data sources for these objectives will differ by country
Justice Indicators
Jim Parsons jparsons@vera.org Monica Thornton mthornton@vera.org
Vera Institute of Justice www.vera.org/indicators