The objective of a well-functioning justice system is to equally protect the rights of everyone, from the rich and powerful to the poor and marginalized. In that, ‘access to justice’ is one of the factors that has been identified across literature as a key ingredient to measure the effectiveness of justice delivery (Bosio 2023). 

Access to justice can be understood as the right to not merely access a courtroom, but to also have a case heard and adjudicated in accordance with substantive standards of fairness and justice (Francioni 2007). It includes eliminating barriers that prevent people from understanding and exercising their rights, and delivering fair and just outcomes for all citizens, including those facing financial and other disadvantages (Cappelletti 1981; Peysner 2014). Access to justice is not always uniform or equitable and can be influenced by several factors such as geography, socio-economic status, access to information, prevailing discriminatory social norms, unconscious biases, and reluctance to engage with state and non-state institutions (Bosio 2023).

Over 5 billion people globally today face unmet justice needs (World Justice Project 2019). Further, research shows that the inability to access legal and judicial services can be both a result and a cause of poverty and inequality, often perpetuating existing inequalities in other areas, such as educational attainment, health conditions and employment opportunities (OECD 2016).

Inability to obtain legal and justice services is often found to have a disproportionate impact on low-income and other disadvantaged groups, which in extreme cases, can even result in civil war and increase poverty significantly (Bosio 2023). Today, three-quarters of people in the poorest billion of the world’s population are either involved in or recovering from civil war.

The Justice Profile in the newly launched Prosperity Data360 platform allows us to understand this disparity further by allowing a comparison between countries and regions on various aspects of access to justice. 

                                Figure 1. Countries with Higher Fragility also have Weaker Rule of Law.

Source: World Governance Indicators (WGI) 2021 - Rule of Law Pillar | Fragility States Index (FSI) 2023

Note: The Fragile States Index (FSI) ranks countries from high levels (1) to low levels of fragility (179). For the purposes of this graph, the FSI ranks are inverted, and a higher number indicates higher levels of fragility. Countries in orange are FCS countries according to WBG’s classification for 2023. 

Improved access to justice brings forth multifaceted benefits, spanning from economic growth to enhancing social cohesion, and notably, empowering marginalized communities.

Economic Impacts: Enhanced access to justice has been empirically linked to significant economic benefits across diverse contexts. For instance, a study spanning 83 countries from 1970 to 2014 demonstrated that a mere 1% increase in access to justice correlates with a 0.86 pp rise in the five-year GDP per capita growth rate (Deseau et al 2019). Regions witnessing improved justice access experienced heightened entrepreneurship levels (Lichand and Soares 2014). Conversely, the removal of local courts in France not only spurred unresolved disputes and reliance on informal resolutions (Espinosa et al 2017) but also culminated in a decline in job and firm creation between 2007 and 2012 (Espinosa et al 2018). Diving into the agricultural sector, Kenyan farmers with access to legal aid saw a substantial uptick in land productivity, investments, and overall agricultural production. Additionally, the nexus between unresolved legal issues and deteriorated health, impacting work productivity, underscores the economic imperative of justice accessibility (Pleasence et al 2015).

As a case study on how access to justice contributes to positive economic impact, an intervention in rural Kenya offering free legal aid for 2 years to a group of small-scale farmers (target group) wanting to resolve disputes between 2013 to 2018 can be noted. Figure 2 illustrates the effects of this intervention against the set of similar farmers who were not offered this intervention (control group). The intervention showed that legal representation increased the security of property rights, which translated into greater investment and access to credit (Aberra and Chemin 2021).

    Figure 2. Farmers getting Legal Aid in Rural Kenya experienced

Significantly Greater Improvements in their Economic Returns than those who did not

Source: Aberra, A., & Chemin, M. (2021). Does legal representation increase investment? Evidence from a field experiment in Kenya. Journal of Development Economics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102612. 

Social Cohesion and Empowerment of Marginalized Communities: Today, poor access to justice is a defining characteristic of many Fragile and Conflict States (Figure 3), as individuals face various obstacles when seeking remedy for their grievances. Better access to justice can reduce grievances while empowering the marginalized. 

           Figure 3. Access to Civil Justice is much below global mean in Fragile and Conflict States.

Figure 3. Access to Civil Justice is much below global mean in Fragile and Conflict States.

Source: World Justice Project Rule of Law Index (WJP RLI), Indicator 7.1.

Notes: WJP RLI scores range from 0 to 1, with 1 indicating the best score.