International Models of Justice System Measurement and Managment

Three models of justice system performance measurement and management that have gained significant currency internationally over the last few years are:
·         the recently launched European Commission’s EU Justice Scoreboard based on the extensive work of the Council of Europe Commission for the Evaluation of the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ);

·         the Global Measures for Court Excellence developed by the International Consortium for Court Excellence as part of its International Framework for Court Excellence; and,

·          the National Center for State Courts' CourTools.
All three of these models aim for consistent use by all countries and states or, in the case of the EU Justice Scoreboard, all EU member states; all three elevate to the status of core measures of performance a limited number of indicators (e.g., case clearance rate and on-time case processing) developed from data collected by the justice institutions and systems themselves, data that has been referred to somewhat pejoratively as “administrative data” (though that negative characterization is bound to change in a few years); and all three are seen as comparative tools to support justice reforms. (Of course, other models exist, though they are intended primarily for single-country use.  Australian Government’s Productivity Commission’s Report of Government Services 2012 is an excellent example.)

Future posts will explore each of these models.   

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