Access to justice is important for inclusive development. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) maintains that the “inability to resolve legal problems diminishes access to economic opportunity, reinforces the poverty trap, and undermines human potential and inclusive growth.” The United Nations has also endorsed the view that justice matters for the global development agenda and its commitment to leave no one behind. The inclusion of target 16.3 in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) commits all member states to “promote the rule of law at the national and international levels, and ensure equal access to justice for all.”

But how do we measure “equal access to all” and sustain access to justice solutions while ensuring marginalized and vulnerable groups are not left behind? How can data on crime be used for development beyond generating statistics? How can we shift the focus from the performance of judicial institutions to measuring the outcomes of the pressing legal needs of the people such as having justice delivered in a fair, cost-efficient, timely, and effective manner?

In our data chat, we will be looking at unpacking some of the above concern areas and ways to expand on the collection and application of Judicial data.