Foundations, Perspectives and Assessment of People-Centred Justice

Abstract

People-Centred Justice (PCJ) has gained increasing scholarly and policy attention as a framework for enhancing justice systems' responsiveness to the lived realities, needs and expectations of justice seekers, prioritising the timely delivery of frontline services. Its prominence is supported by international legal and normative frameworks that advocate for responsive, fair and equitable justice systems. Despite heightened interest in PCJ, exploration of its conceptual foundation, literature and assessment across justice systems is limited. To address this gap, this study has examined the foundational principles, philosophical underpinnings, and both theoretical and empirical literature on PCJ. Underpinning PCJ is a set of foundational principles. These principles provide the grounding for its legitimacy, adoption and institutional implementation and include accessibility, responsiveness, fairness and impartiality, inclusivity and non-discrimination, empowerment, transparency and accountability, timeliness and efficiency, and collaboration and coordination. Findings further indicate that, although PCJ has gained global traction as a justice reform paradigm, conceptual ambiguities exist, and there is limited quantitative and qualitative assessment of its progress. To address this, a conceptual framework and methods for assessing the progress on the adoption and implementation of PCJ have been provided. The framework, which draws from PCJ principles, broad focus areas, normative and legal frameworks and literature, provides the context that comes into play. It is therefore recommended that the justice sector institutions should, at the onset, have a well-grounded theory of change that links their pre-existing practices to the desirable PCJ practices. Further, effective implementation of PCJ requires enhanced institutional commitment, robust and context-sensitive assessment frameworks, evidence-based learning and sustained responsiveness to the lived needs, realities and expectations of justice seekers.

Key Words: People-Centred Justice (PCJ), Justice Systems, Responsiveness, Principles and Assessment

DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/16-2-02

Publication date: July 28^th 2026