WHY JUSTICE?
The global justice gap harms communities everywhere. But it harms people with the least the most.
THE PROBLEM
3 million
people in prison worldwide have not been convicted of a crime.
Pathfinders
5.1 billion
people worldwide are being failed by the justice system.
Pathfinders
50%
of incarcerated people in most low-income countries are detained while waiting for trial.
World Prison Brief
253 million
people live in extreme conditions of injustice without legal protection.
Pathfinders
4 in 5
incarcerated people in Kenya won’t meet a lawyer, not even during their hearing.
Adroit Consult International
40%
of global justice development funding has fallen over the last five years.
Overseas Development Institute
300%
is the current occupancy level rate in Ugandan prisons.
World Prison Brief
3%
of global GDP is lost each year because of the cost of seeking justice.
Pathfinders
Look in prisons, and you’ll think being poor is a crime.
Prisons are hidden places. Most people never see them. Few talk about what happens inside.
Inside, cells are overcrowded. Men, women, sometimes children are held there. Many have not been found guilty of any crime. They are detained because arrest is often followed by detention, whatever the offence.
More than three million people are held in pre-trial detention worldwide.
For some, their fate rests with a single judge. Juries do not exist in many countries. In much of sub-Saharan Africa, English remains the language of the courts and government. People who speak only their native language cannot understand their charge sheet or what is said in court.
State-appointed lawyers are few. They are underpaid and under-resourced. Many people face the justice system alone.
Some people in prison are guilty. Many are there because they do not understand the law and have no one to defend them.
This is how injustice takes hold.
It is not inevitable. When unlikely allies work together, systems change for all.
We are redesigning
justice systems from the inside out.
We do this by training people in prison and prison staff side by side as paralegals and lawyers, enabling them to serve those denied justice.
Justice is the foundation of civilised democracy and development. Without it, the rule of law breaks down, trust erodes, and societies struggle to remain peaceful and inclusive. When people cannot access legal support and a fair trial, they cannot rely on the protection the law is meant to provide.
Justice delayed is justice denied. Excessive delays in criminal proceedings leave people in prison waiting years for trial, often losing hope or feeling pressured to plead guilty simply to bring uncertainty to an end.
When the law is properly understood and applied, the impact extends across the entire justice system. When the law is upheld and access to legal representation is equal, justice officials can apply the law without fear or favour.
“There can be no justice without peace, and no peace without justice.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Injustice is not an African problem. Flawed justice systems exist in every region of the world.
Governments increasingly recognise the scale of this challenge and have committed to the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 16, which focuses on access to justice for all and the development of effective, accountable institutions as the foundation for peaceful, just, and inclusive societies.
Justice is the thread that runs through all of the Sustainable Development Goals. Without it, we cannot end poverty or reduce inequality. Across contexts, marginalised and impoverished communities are disproportionately drawn into criminal justice systems.
We reject the idea that people with mental health needs, low incomes, or limited access to education are destined to be overrepresented in prisons.
At the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals is a vision of an equitable, tolerant, open, and socially inclusive world, in which the needs of the most vulnerable are met.
This vision calls us to build organisations, systems, and nations that draw out the best in us all.
And we accept the call.