Digitalizing Police Requirements

2017 ◽  
pp. 157-172
Author(s):  
Mila Gascó-Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Department Of Justice ◽  
Exchange Of Information ◽  
Police Forces

In the last one or two years, the growing demand for an open state has sped up the adoption of ICT aimed at improving access to justice, making the judiciary more transparent, increasing cooperation between legal authorities, and strengthening the justice system itself. Of particular importance are interoperability initiatives since they guarantee collaboration as well as the harmonic and cohesive functioning of different existing systems, processes, and applications that, in the justice field, are many as a result of the big variety of actors that are involved: judicial institutions but, also, different public administrations, such as those responsible of police forces, and law professionals. The chapter describes and analyzes GRP (Gestió de Requeriments Policials), a project that allows for the exchange of information between the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior in the framework of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia (Spain).

Digitalizing Police Requirements

2020 ◽  
pp. 197-212
Author(s):  
Mila Gascó-Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Department Of Justice ◽  
Exchange Of Information ◽  
Police Forces

In the last one or two years, the growing demand for an open state has sped up the adoption of ICT aimed at improving access to justice, making the judiciary more transparent, increasing cooperation between legal authorities, and strengthening the justice system itself. Of particular importance are interoperability initiatives since they guarantee collaboration as well as the harmonic and cohesive functioning of different existing systems, processes, and applications that, in the justice field, are many as a result of the big variety of actors that are involved: judicial institutions but, also, different public administrations, such as those responsible of police forces, and law professionals. The chapter describes and analyzes GRP (Gestió de Requeriments Policials), a project that allows for the exchange of information between the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior in the framework of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia (Spain).

scholarly journals A critical analysis of the inefficacy of Court-Annexed Mediation (CAM) in South Africa – lessons from Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-54
Author(s):  
EC Muller ◽  
◽  
CL Nel
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
South African ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Civil Justice ◽  
Department Of Justice ◽  
Constitutional Development ◽  
Optimal Functioning ◽  
Civil Justice System

As a result of defects in the South African civil justice system, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development introduced voluntary court-annexed mediation (CAM) in the magistrates’ courts in 2014. CAM was chosen under the broader need for greater access to justice because it has the potential to make dispute resolution efficient, amicable, and affordable. It can, therefore, contribute to access to justice for all members of society. Since the amendment of the Magistrates’ Court Rules to provide for CAM, the uptake of mediation in terms of the CAM system has unfortunately been inadequate. The aim of this article is to identify reasons for the inefficacy of CAM since its implementation. We use normative research to critically analyse existing court rules and authority. We conclude that there are several reasons for CAM’s inefficacy which are elucidated in the main text. It is important to understand these reasons, as the legislature presents CAM as a mechanism to improve access to justice. From this platform, we evaluate the mechanisms for court-connected alternative dispute resolutions provided by the Nigerian Multi-Door Courthouse (MDC) system. This reveals policies and practices that could potentially improve the efficacy of CAM in South Africa, as these relate to the factors identified as impediments to the optimal functioning of CAM in our civil justice system. As such, we identify valuable lessons that can be learned from this comparison. Building hereon, and on the conclusions reached elsewhere in the article, we postulate that the mediation scheme, as contemplated by Rule 41A of the Uniform Rules of Court (as applied in the superior courts), should also be implemented in the magistrates’ courts. The article concludes that improving CAM in South Africa is of critical importance to advancing access to justice and departing from a culture of conventional adversarial dispute resolution.

Racializing Mercy: Capital Punishment and Race in Twentieth-Century England and Wales

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 883-910
Author(s):  
Lizzie Seal ◽  
Alexa Neale
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Racial Difference ◽  
Institutional Racism ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Men Of Color ◽  
Unequal Access ◽  
To Receive

Fifty-seven men of color were sentenced to death by the courts of England and Wales in the twentieth century and were less likely to receive mercy than white contemporaries. Though shocking, the data is perhaps unsurprising considering institutional racism and unequal access to justice widely highlighted by criminologists since the 1970s. We find discourses of racial difference were frequently mobilized tactically in nineteenth- and twentieth-century England and Wales: to support arguments for mercy and attempt to save prisoners from the gallows. Scholars have identified historically and culturally contingent narratives traditionally deployed to speak to notions of lesser culpability. These mercy narratives reveal contemporary ideals and attitudes to gender or class. This article is original in identifying strategic mercy narratives told in twentieth-century England and Wales that called on contemporary tropes about defendants' race. The narratives and cases we explore suggest contemporary racism in the criminal justice system of England and Wales has a longer history than previously acknowledged.

scholarly journals Underestimating the Unrepresented: Cognitive Biases Disadvantage Pro Se Litigants in Family Law Cases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Mary Kroeper ◽  
Victor David Quintanilla ◽  
Michael Frisby ◽  
Nedim Yel ◽  
Amy Applegate ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
The United States ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Randomized Experiments ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Mere Presence ◽  
Dispute Resolution Mechanism ◽  
Civil Justice System ◽  
Wide Access

The majority of civil cases in the United States involve at least one pro se party—more often than not, at least one litigant is unrepresented by legal counsel. Despite efforts to provide pro se parties with information that decreases the procedural complexity of litigation, wide access to justice gaps persist between counseled and pro se litigants. We argue that, while helpful, information alone is not enough to close access-to-justice gaps, because the mere presence of counsel gives represented litigants a persuasive edge over pro se litigants in the eyes of legal officials. Two randomized experiments with civil court judges (Experiment 1) and attorney-mediators (Experiment 2), wherein only the presence of counsel varied (while other case-related factors were held constant), found that legal officials, on average, devalued the case merit of pro se litigants relative to otherwise identical counseled litigants. This case devaluation, in turn, shaped how legal officials expected pro se (vs. counseled) litigants to fare as they sought justice. Judges, attorneys, and mediators forecasted that pro se litigants would experience the civil justice system as less fair and less satisfying than counseled litigants, especially when the dispute resolution mechanism was trial (vs. mediation). These results suggest that perceptions of case merit are strongly influenced by a litigant’s counseled status. Comprehensive solutions to address access-to-justice gaps must consider ways to reduce legal officials’ biased perceptions of pro se litigants, so that they are not underestimated before their cases are even heard.

scholarly journals Women's Experiences of the Justice System

1997 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 649
Author(s):  
J Morris
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Law Commission

This article considers the impact of gender upon women's experiences of the New Zealand justice system, as lawyers and clients. As well as summarising study and survey material, it draws upon information provided to the Law Commission in the course of its project on Women's Acces to Justice: He Putanga mo nga Wahine ki te Tika. It concludes that women are still significantly disadvantaged by the justice system as a result of their gender and that there is an ongoing need for debate and consideration of these issues if women's access to justice is to be improved.

The geographies of justice in Portugal: redefining the judiciary's territories

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 442-460
Author(s):  
Patrícia Branco
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
The State ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Political Factors

AbstractIn this paper, I examine the current geographical location of Portuguese courts and the effects this territorial redefinition has had on the relationships between the justice system and the territories/populations in a context in which external and internal political factors, rather than a mere need to improve the justice system, have played a major role. Such an analysis entails three key elements: the geographic impacts on access to justice, in view of the emblematic presence of the state in the territories, both contrasted with the conflict between specialisation and the proximity of jurisdiction.

Referral fees – the business of access to justice

Legal Studies ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Civil Justice ◽  
Better Regulation ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Civil Justice System

The paper examines the controversial issue of referral fees for personal injury claims. It looks at the function of referral fees in the civil justice system, their relationship to the guarantees of access to court and the right to seek legal assistance in ECHR Art 6, and the debate about promoting access to justice or a litigious society. It examines the experience of the referral fees market in England and Wales, where the costs of referrals have risen dramatically and there is concern that referrers are auctioning their customers to the highest bidder rather than helping them find competent lawyers. Sir Rupert Jackson recommended banning referral fees in his report on the costs of civil litigation, and the Government has announced it will implement this recommendation. The paper considers the potential effects of a ban on competition in the legal services market and its compatibility with UK and EU competition law. The paper argues that a combination of better regulation of the industry and proper regulation of costs rules is a better and more proportionate way of controlling legal costs and the quality of legal services than an outright ban. While referral fees have not delivered all the benefits one would expect from a for-profit independent referrals service, they can help people obtain information about their legal rights, and competent lawyers to enforce them. This service is particularly valuable given that the state has substantially cut public funding of the civil justice system in recent years.

Rule of Law, Citizenship and Access to Justice in Mexico

1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pilar Domingo
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
The Political ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Mexican State

A través de una evaluación del sistema judicial, el artículo considera las cambiantes perspectivas de la ciudadanía y el regulación de la ley en México. La transformación del estado mexicano lleva consigo cambios en la manera en que los derechos son concebidos, tanto en el discurso político como dentro de la sociedad misma. La creciente demanda de la realización efectiva de los derechos individuales y del acceso a la justicia aumenta cada vez más la presión en un aparato jurídico que no logra satisfacer las expectativas adecuadas mínimas de la administración de justicia y la protección de los derechos. / Through an assessment of the justice system, the article considers the changing views and perspectives on citizenship and rule of law in Mexico. The transformation of the Mexican state carries with it significant changes in how rights are conceived both in the political discourse and within society. Increasing demands for the effective realisation of individual rights and access to justice places growing pressures on a judicial apparatus which fails to meet minimally adequate standards of justice administration and rights protection.

Administration of State Sponsored Local Justice System: An Appraisal on the Legal Framework of Village Courts in Bangladesh

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-240
Author(s):  
Md. Al-Ifran Mollah
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Single Channel ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Informal Justice ◽  
Local Justice ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Interference ◽  
Formal Justice

AbstractAccess to justice is one of the significant pre-requisites for sustainable human development and it has been made available in the form of both the formal and informal systems stretching from the very top of the judiciary to the local justice system in Bangladesh. The formal justice system, even though it plays the most pivotal role, has been facing huge pressure from case backlogs, which ultimately hampers the true spirit of justice. On the other hand, most people's perception towards informal justice system is also fairly poor with lack of trust due to partisan political interference, corruption, religious dogmas, and social elitism, which have made this system almost ineffective. Consequently, state-sponsored local justice system has come forward with a view to combining the both streams in a single channel in the form of restorative justice and a quorum of quasi-formal justice system aimed at ensuring and dispensing justice to the people in rural areas in an affordable and convenient manner. In line with this view, village courts have been established to redress petty civil and criminal issues. This article attempts to examine the feasibility of the present legal framework of village courts to deliver justice efficiently at the grassroots level.

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