Investing in Justice: A Literature Review in Support of the Case for Improved Access

Investing in Justice: A Literature Review in Support of the Case for Improved Access

 

The gap in access to justice negatively impacts everyone. It also comes with significant costs to individuals and societies.  A recent report from Trevor Farrow, an ACT researcher, and Lisa Moore for the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, an ACT partner, shows that investing in Justice is as important as profitable for governments, cities, and citizens.

 

Key takeaways from the report are the following:

-       Governments need to invest in legal aid schemes to get various return on investment ranging from cost savings and financial gains to reducing poverty, evictions, domestic violence and homelessness (p.14 and following);

-       Cities need to invest in community-based services, taking into account geographical factors, as some of them facilitate legal problem resolution for specific groups or specific types of legal problems. Those community-based services generate real economic and social value (p.43 and following);

-       Citizens need to invest in legal expenses insurance, as within a given three-year period, 48.4% of the adult Canadian population will experience at least one civil or family justice problem that they consider to be serious or difficult to resolve. The average spending on everyday legal problems in Canada amounts to $6,100 and the cost of a seven-day civil trial is estimated to be upwards of $124,000. Without legal expenses insurance, many people will go into debt, lose their home and experience other problems as a direct result of one or more serious civil or family justice problem (p.56 and following).

For more information about this study, please refer to the attached PDF.

This content has been updated on 05/04/2020 at 16 h 20 min.