Perspectives on transformation in community justice: Exploring reforms to meet local legal needs

Abstract

This article seeks to systematize evidence —especially from Peru, Brazil, Colombia, and Chile— regarding the functioning of mechanisms driven by the State to address the existing gap in legal needs. The evidence analyzed in relation to neighborhood justice initiatives is insufficient to favor a specific solution to a problem that is typically justified in a discourse of enhancing access to justice. Neither national nor foreign experiences are entirely adequate, considering the objectives of effectiveness, sustainability, and efficiency that should be promoted in a justice system reform. However, a justification based solely on management modernization also does not appear sufficient to drive a public policy reform in justice, as evidenced by the thus far frustrated Civil Procedural Reform. In this context, a proper evaluation of the current local police justice can provide a conducive space for the advancement of a modernizing reform that contributes to meeting people's legal needs by providing comprehensive solutions and leveraging the existing judicial framework.