The judicial system: access to courts

If we are to grasp the role justice plays in individual countries, it is necessary to push the analysis beyond the institutional guarantees of independence and consider the organizational context in which courts operate: the judicial system. Relevant aspects include the jurisdiction and its internal dynamics, namely, the kind of disputes that a judge can be asked to settle, and the relationships between lower and upper courts. Furthermore, the channels and the resources available to gain access to justice are of primary importance since they affect the concrete opportunities for individuals and groups to take their cases to court. Finally, public prosecutors must be considered, that is, the institutional actors who patrol access to criminal justice.