This Report examines if and how expert witnesses impact the integrity, impartiality and efficiency of adjudication in four countries-Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The report is part of a broader World Bank initiative to raise awareness of reform...

This report analyzes the main reasons or interests that have prevented some recent judicial and legal reforms in Honduras and Bolivia from becoming effective. It focuses on the reasons why criminal justice reforms were unable to put an end to the misuse of pre-trial detention. The report also...

Can changing the rules of the game affect government performance? This paper studies the impact of a simple procedural reform on the efficiency and quality of adjudication in Senegal. The reform gave judges the duty and powers to conclude pre-trial proceedings within a four-month deadline. The...

This paper examines the role of courts in promoting fulfillment of the right to education in developing country democracies, focusing on India and Indonesia-two countries that have experienced increased education rights litigation in recent years. The paper argues that this litigation has been...

The discipline of law and economics deals with wide-ranging topics, from competition and environmental policy to crime control, and has been instrumental in determining how an economy performs. Yet its success has fallen short of its potential. The discipline's shortcomings are nowhere as...

As the SDGs become reality, countries continue to seek for options to meet the new goals and to keep track of their progress. This includes efforts related to the new Goal 16, "Justice and Peace". Achieving the SDGs requires implementation in many areas. Today, courts in many countries are...

Reform of the judiciary is a key element of Serbia's European Union (EU) accession process, and in ensuring sustainable economic growth and delivering justice to Serbian citizens and businesses. Reform of the judiciary has been ongoing since the regime change in 2000. However, efforts...

In an effort to help the Montenegrin Government in its efforts to implement reforms andmodernization of the judiciary, the World Bank conducted a survey dealing with the perception of the judiciary through five basic dimensions - efficiency, quality, fairness, accessibility, and integrity...