Indicators Independence, Accountability and Quality of the Judiciary: Reenforcing judicial protection

Abstract

As essential part of the improvement cycle of the judiciary that the ENCJ has initiated, the indicators on independence and accountability and those on quality of justice have been measured anew. The indicators on independence and accountability concern, on the one hand, formal arrangements and safeguards and, on the other hand, perceptions of independence in society. The data has been gathered by means of a questionnaire among Councils for the Judiciary and other governing bodies (formal arrangements) and diverse surveys, including the ENCJ survey among judges (perceptions). The answers to the questionnaires have been externally validated. Conceptually, the indicator system is evolving, but the main aspects of independence are kept constant. The indicators on quality of justice focus on the practical arrangements that affect key components of quality, and are also measured by means of a questionnaire among Councils for the Judiciary and other governing bodies. The set of indicators has reached a sufficient level of maturity that, like the set on independence and accountability, it is informative and gives insight into the possibilities for improvement for the participating judiciaries. The indicators for each judiciary in the formats presented here for all judiciaries together are the core of this report.