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A/03Justice in 100 Days

Find what can change now.

A programme designed to establish a justice baseline and agree practical reform priorities during an incoming government’s first 100 days. It identifies what can begin immediately and how longer-term progress will be measured.

Download the two-page briefingPDF · 1.5 MB Plan your first 100 days
A capital city at first light, public buildings among the rooftops.
The first days of a mandateA/03

Products availableCombination agreed to scope

The conversationFor incoming governments and the partners who support them

“What justice system have you inherited, what should you change first, and how will you demonstrate progress?”

Who it is for
  • Incoming governments
  • Ministries of Justice
  • Justice institutions
  • EU Delegations
  • UNDP
  • Bilateral governance programmes
01The window

A rare window for reform.

100 days will not transform a justice system. But they can establish what needs to change and put reform on a measurable path. Developed by Governance and Justice Group (GJG) and Justice Mapping (JM), the programme brings national experts and institutions into collection, analysis and validation.

A change of government creates a rare window for justice reform. Political authority is strongest, expectations are high, and incoming Ministers are under immediate pressure to show that commitments on the rule of law, access to justice and institutional integrity will translate into action.

Yet new governments often begin without a reliable picture of how the justice system is performing. National statistics may show how many cases enter the courts or how many people are in prison. They rarely explain where delays occur, why institutions perform differently, whether resources match demand, where citizens encounter barriers – or which reforms would produce the greatest improvement.

02By Day 100

By Day 100, a government can know.

  • Where the justice system is working – and where it is not.
  • Where cases become delayed or blocked.
  • Whether people, budgets and infrastructure match demand.
  • Where geography, gender, poverty or vulnerability affect access to justice.
  • Which problems can be addressed quickly, and which require structural reform.
  • What should be prioritised during the government’s term – and how improvement will be measured.
03Four phases

One hundred days, four phases.

Designed around the political window after an election or transition – from listening and collecting, to a published baseline and a reform dashboard.

  1. Days 1–30

    Establish the baseline

    listen · collect · map

    • Agree the priority reform questions with government and justice institutions
    • Collect and consolidate administrative data from courts, prosecution, police, prisons and legal aid
    • Map institutions, resources, caseloads and justice pathways
    • Identify critical information gaps
  2. Days 31–60

    Find the bottlenecks

    analyse · compare · diagnose

    • Analyse performance nationally and geographically
    • Compare resources against demand
    • Identify bottlenecks, disparities and institutional dependencies
    • Test findings with practitioners and users
    • Separate problems needing legislative or structural reform from those that can be fixed administratively
  3. Days 61–80

    Agree what can change

    validate · prioritise · cost

    • Bring institutions together around a common evidence base
    • Identify around ten priority reforms, separating quick wins achievable within months from system reforms requiring sustained investment
    • Identify responsible institutions, resource implications and indicators
  4. Days 81–100

    Launch the reform baseline

    publish · commit · measure

    • Deliver the national Justice Snapshot
    • Agree a Government Justice Reform Dashboard
    • Publish priority actions where appropriate
    • Establish 12-, 24- and 36-month indicators
04Commitment to change

From political commitment to measurable change.

Take an illustrative commitment to reduce court delays and follow it through to measures of progress.

  1. Commitment

    “We will reduce court delays.”

  2. Evidence

    Where is the backlog? How old are pending cases? What causes adjournments? Are judges and staff deployed according to caseload?

  3. Action

    Identify the courts, case types and administrative processes where targeted intervention could reduce delay.

  4. Measurement

    Set the indicators against which progress will be assessed after 12, 24 and 36 months.

05Key questions

The questions it answers.

Five questions every incoming Minister of Justice needs answered – early, and with evidence.

  1. What justice system have we inherited?

  2. Where are the principal bottlenecks?

  3. What can we change quickly?

  4. What requires structural reform?

  5. How will we demonstrate improvement during our mandate?

06What government has on Day 100

What government has on Day 100.

A shared baseline, agreed priorities and an action programme for improvements that can begin without waiting for wholesale legislative reform.

  1. 01

    National Justice Snapshot

    A concise, evidence-based picture of the justice system at the beginning of the mandate.

  2. 02

    Action Matrix: reform priorities

    A limited number of reforms ranked by urgency, impact, feasibility and cost.

  3. 03Core output

    100-day action programme

    Immediate administrative and operational improvements that can begin without waiting for wholesale legislative reform.

  4. 04

    Reform dashboard

    A small number of measurable indicators for Ministers and institutional leaders to track implementation.

  5. 05

    Roadmap for longer-term reform

    Structural reforms requiring sustained action during the government’s term.

  6. 06

    Evidence platform

    A baseline updated through subsequent Justice Snapshots, so progress is demonstrated rather than asserted.

07What it examines

The justice chain, scoped to national priorities.

  • Courts

    Caseload, backlog, case duration, infrastructure, human and material resources, digital capability and accessibility.

  • Prosecution

    Workload, case progression, resources, coordination and delays.

  • Police

    Case management, investigation duration, detention times, referral mechanisms and access to legal assistance.

  • Prisons

    Population (disaggregated), capacity, case types and status, alternatives to custody and early release mechanisms.

  • Legal aid

    Coverage, demand, budget and expenditure, early access and geographical availability.

  • ADR and community justice

    Usage, referrals, outcomes and relationship with formal justice institutions.

08Beyond Day 100

Day 100 is the baseline.

Justice in 100 Days can be a stand-alone exercise or the first stage of a longer reform partnership – measured again through the mandate.

  1. Launch

    Day 100

    National Justice Snapshot + Action Matrix + reform dashboard

  2. Repeat

    Year 1

    Justice SnapshotWhat changed?

  3. Repeat

    Year 2

    Justice SnapshotAre reforms producing results?

  4. Review

    End of mandate

    Justice AuditWhat did the government change?

09Track record

Evidence at the pace of a mandate.

Justice Snapshots have reached validated data in under three months – in conflict-affected settings, and despite COVID-19.

This is what I wanted because only when you have a complete, rather than partial, view do you understand what is going on . . . and I can check our progress against this baseline when we do another audit.

Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, BangladeshBangladesh · 2018
10Why Justice in 100 Days

Why Justice in 100 Days?

It can be commissioned by an incoming government, an EU Delegation or a governance programme. For EU candidate and potential candidate countries, it can also connect relevant Chapters 23 and 24 commitments to evidence of implementation.

  • Fast

    Designed around the political window after an election or transition.

  • Empirical

    Built primarily on institutional and administrative evidence.

  • System-wide

    Examines how institutions interact, not each in isolation.

  • Granular

    Shows geographical and institutional disparities hidden by national averages.

  • Practical

    Distinguishes what can change now from what requires longer-term reform.

  • Measurable

    Creates the baseline against which progress can be demonstrated.

Know where you are. Decide what matters. Measure what changes.

11Built from

The products underneath.

The programme can combine Justice Snapshot, Court Audit and Prison Audit, according to national priorities and the questions that can be addressed within the agreed timetable.

→Start a conversation

Start with the question you are facing.

Start with a conversation about a specific problem. Choose the one closest to yours and tell us a little about your context.

  1. 01Could a Justice Audit work in your country?
  2. 02Planning justice reform in the first 100 days?
  3. 03Preparing for EU accession?
  4. 04Examining justice and the investment environment?
  5. 05Need to understand court backlog or prison overcrowding?