01Core output
Action Matrix
The evidence assembled into a prioritised, sequenced set of actions, each linked to the institution responsible.
Justice Audit
See the whole system.
A comprehensive, evidence-led examination of how a justice system functions – from police station to prison – and what can realistically be changed.
Where it looksWhole justice chain
- Police
- Prosecution
- Courts
- Prisons
- Legal aid
- 01Produces
- Action Matrix and time-bound Roadmap
- 02Scope
- Whole justice chain
- 03Timeframe
- Scoped to each assignment
- 04Builds on
- Institutional, case-level and user evidence
01Questions
The questions it is built to answer.
The questions are agreed with national partners during planning. National experts work throughout data collection, analysis and validation, helping institutions use and update the evidence.
What should happen – and what actually happens in practice?
Where is the justice chain under pressure, and why?
Is dysfunction in one institution caused or amplified by another?
Do people, budgets and infrastructure match demand?
Where do geography, gender, age, disability or poverty affect access to justice?
What can realistically be changed – and in what order?
02How it works
One chain, not five institutions.
Justice systems often hold large volumes of information but relatively little integrated evidence about how the system operates as a whole. A Justice Audit examines the justice chain as a system, consolidating seven kinds of evidence into one actionable analysis (read about what it consolidates).
The Bangladesh Justice Audit shows the approach at work. Institutional data were combined with citizen, court-user and practitioner evidence, so the justice system could be viewed nationally and by individual district. The underlying baseline data were made accessible, and data inconsistencies were explicitly identified rather than concealed.
The result is not simply a report. It is a baseline, a dataset, a diagnostic and an Action Matrix with a time-bound Roadmap – designed to be updated as reform proceeds.
The seven-stage process, grouped below
- Step
Planning and framing
Agree the questions, institutions and indicators with national partners.
- Step
Collecting and interrogating
Gather institutional, case-level and user data, then test and analyse it across the whole chain.
- Step
Designing and validating
Turn findings into prioritised actions and verify them with the institutions concerned.
- Step
Transferring
Hand over data, tools and skills so the baseline can be maintained nationally.
03What it examines
What it examines.
Each institution measured on its own terms – and in relation to the others.
- Police
- Prosecution
- Courts
- Prisons
- Legal aid
- ADR and community justice
- Citizen and court-user experience
04What you receive
What you receive.
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02Core output
Time-bound Roadmap
Agreed measures of progress over time, so implementation can be monitored and success or failure seen.
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03
Baseline dataset
Institutional and primary data, disaggregated where available by gender, age, disability and geography. Gaps and inconsistencies are recorded.
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04
Visualisation
Maps and data visualisations showing institutional and geographical detail for the jurisdictions in scope.
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05
Local capacity
National experts involved throughout the work, with data, tools and skills transferred to support future updates.
05In practice
A complete, rather than partial, view.
This is what I wanted because only when you have a complete, rather than partial, view do you understand what is going on . . . and I can check our progress against this baseline when we do another audit.
“The Justice Audit … has demonstrated that investments at the policy level contribute to significant and far-reaching impact on the overall performance of the justice sector… The Justice Audit continues to be used as an important tool to highlight the importance of evidence- based planning.”
- Cases in courts and agencies
- Police investigations
- People: arrests and prison
Circle area ∝ volume
View the data
| Stage | Volume | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Police investigations (FIR) | 216,370 | investigations |
| Chief Judicial / Metropolitan Magistrate Court | 1,449,219 | cases |
| District / Metropolitan Sessions Court | 690,964 | cases |
| High Court Division | 464,872 | cases |
| Appellate Division | 23,306 | cases |
| Nari o Shishu | 179,209 | cases |
| Village Court | Not shown | |
| NLASO legal aid (civil + criminal) | 111,024 | cases |
| People arrested | 541,052 | people |
| Prison admissions | 485,274 | people |
| Average daily prison population | 76,613 | people |
Where it has been used
- 2014 · 2018BangladeshThe first national Justice Audit of any country – national and 64-district, after a five-district pilot.
- 2013MalaysiaJustice Audit Malaysia, using prison population data from 2011: 35,070 people.
- 2011AfghanistanAfghanistan Justice Audit.
- 2015 · 2023United StatesCook County, Illinois. County-level engagements recorded in 2023 in Michigan, South Carolina and Alabama were in progress in 2025.
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