A Survey of Judicial Effectiveness : The Last Quarter Century of Empirical Evidence

Courts around the world are often perceived to be ineffective in the delivery of justice. Theresolution of cases takes too long, costs too much, and is biased in favor of the rich and politically connected. Thesestylized facts motivate judicial reform. With the benefit of a quarter century of empirical research, this paper findsthat judicial reform is successful in improving court effectiveness when it coincides with or is motivated byperiods of extraordinary politics. The paper studies the four most discussed ingredients of judicial effectiveness –independence, access, efficiency, and quality – and finds that transformative judicial reform is most likely tosucceed in countries emerging from conflict and violence or those that are pursuing accession to regional orinternational groups. Absent such conditions, reformers are better off focusing on the adoption of procedural rules thatincrease the effectiveness of the existing judicial system. The survey highlights procedural reforms that deliver better outcomes.