Measuring access to civil justice in Brazil

In this article, we map out studies and methodologies used to build subjective indicators of access to justice, focusing on experiences with and management of conflict. We propose a blended measure of access to justice, based on critical analysis of key studies, and work with a broad understanding of what access to justice means and what a lack of access implies. This definition includes the right to a just resolution of conflicts by any appropriate means (not necessarily via state justice) and also takes into account individuals’ awareness of their rights. This work relies on survey data collected between 2010 and 2014 and covers the procedural and substantive dimensions of access to justice. We have documented state-of-the-art measurement and composition of indicators of access to justice, noting key limitations and ways to overcome them, and emphasizing construct validity and filters used in the definition of access to justice. We conclude from the proposed blended measure that, depending on where emphasis is placed–on conflict or on seeking institutional justice–the phenomenon being measured will be different, as people react in different ways to different types of potentially conflicting situations.

access to justice; conflict management; subjective indicators; procedural dimension; substantive dimension