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Justice in Colombia

The data on this page comes from a Justice Needs and Satisfaction survey conducted by HiiL with the support of USAID’s Inclusive Justice programme in Colombia. In 2023, we interviewed around 6000 randomly selected adults in 16 of the 76 municipalities where USAID’s programme is active. In 2024, we launched a report that voices the justice needs of million of Colombians in the region.

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Experienced
legal problems

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Took action to resolve their problem

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Completely or partially resolved their problem

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Number of people interviewed in Colombia

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Photo by BOULENGER Xavier

Below, you will find the stories of justice problems in daily lives of Colombians. People told us how the problems affected them, what they did to resolve them, and how they experienced the formal and informal justice system.

This is the justice story as the people in Colombia encounter and feel it.

55% of the people faced one or more legal problems in the last four years.
Neighbour disputes and crime are the most common and serious legal problems.
Legal problems generally have a low impact on the life of people.
58% of the people with problems take action to try to resolve their most serious problem.
33% of the people who took action to resolve the problem reported their problem as completely solved.
30% of people reported that their problem is not resolved or they abandoned their problem.
Many people seek help from police and public authorities for resolving their problem.
95% people reported that self action was most helpful in resolving their problem.

How people experience justice in Colombia

Have you encountered one or more legal problems?

A legal problem is a problem that takes place in daily life – a dispute, disagreement or grievance for which there is a resolution in the (formal or informal) law. It does not matter if the individual sees it as legal or whether she took action to resolve it.

The chart shows how many adults in Colombia encountered one or more legal problems in the last 4 years.

Which are the most frequent legal problems of people?

Neighbour disputes are the biggest justice problems in the region. Of all people who had to deal with a legal problem, 25% have encountered a dispute with neighbours. 15% experienced a crime and 10% experienced a land-related problem.

Which are the most serious justice problems?

We asked people to tell us about the legal problem which they assess as most serious.

The problems are grouped into categories. For instance, crime aggregates experiences with property and violent crime, fraud, and so on. Land disputes include displacement as well as other land-related problems.

Which are the most burdensome legal problems?

Which problems should be addressed first? The justice gap is enormous and policy-makers and service providers must focus resources on the most burdensome legal problems.

To calculate the burden of a legal problem, we combined the impact and prevalence (frequency) of the problem. Legal problems that are both frequent and impactful have high burden scores. Impact and prevalence vary across key socio-demographic variables. Therefore in the chart, we let the users play and make their selections to see what are the most burdensome problems for specific groups.

How much impact did the problem have?

Legal problems affect people in different ways. Violence, stress, deterioration of important relationships and loss of job are possible consequences of legal problems.

This graph shows how much impact the justice problem had on people’s life.

Did you look for legal information and advice?

Information and advice are key for resolving legal problems. People need to know how to limit the damage, what to do and where to go to resolve the problem.

Did you take action to resolve the problem?

When there is a legal problem, a well functioning legal system provides one or more dispute resolution mechanisms. We call the chains of these dispute resolution mechanisms justice journeys.

The concept of a justice journey recognizes that there are many different steps to resolve a problem. Most often, these steps are not linear. The entirety of the steps that people take to resolve a problem is a justice journey.

Which are the paths to justice that people rely on?

The path to justice for people generally consists of multiple justice providers. A path to justice can be a self-action or involving a third party for resolving problem.

This chart shows the proportion of people who rely on third-party justice providers. The average number of third parties involved by people in the region is 1.15, indicating that most Colombians get help from just one type of justice provider to resolve their justice problems.

The chart also indicates where there is scope to integrate better processes or services. For example, many people rely on the police and public authorities to resolve justice problems, showing trust in law enforcement agencies and public officials. So, a solution that supports police and public authorities in resolving people’s problems is likely to help.

Which was the most useful provider of justice ?

Of all the providers of justice that people in Colombia rely on, here we ask which of these providers was most useful in resolving the problem.

Usefulness is a subjective concept. It allows the individual to consider the different providers involved and estimate which one had the most influence in the process of resolving the problem.

Most of the Colombians experienced that self-action was most helpful in resolving their legal problem. Self-action includes direct negotiation with the other party to resolve the problem.

Do legal problems reach resolutions in Colombia?

The number of legal problems tells us about the size of the demand for justice but it is not enough to measure the total justice gap. To measure the justice gap, it is also important to understand whether these problems are converted into fair resolutions that help people continue with their lives.

How do you assess the quality of justice?

We asked people in Colombia to rank their satisfaction level on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 (closer to the center) is ‘not at all satisfied’ and 5 (away from the center) is ‘completely satisfied’ with the following elements of their justice journey:

– Quality of the process: Voice and neutrality, respect, procedural clarity

– Quality of the outcome: Fair distribution, damage restoration, problem resolution, outcome explanation

– Costs of accessing justice: Money spent, time spent, stress and other negative emotions.

For each dimension of the quality of justice, the rank of satisfaction is represented by the blue dot on the axis. Damage restoration has the lowest rank meaning that the damage that people experienced due to the problem was not restored as a result of the resolution.

Justice Dashboard

Justice Dashboard

Justice in Colombia

Read more about the justice needs of people in Colombia here

How people experience justice in Colombia

Have you encountered one or more legal problems?

Which are the most frequent legal problems of people?

Which are the most serious justice problems?

Which are the most burdensome legal problems?

How much impact did the problem have?

Did you look for legal information and advice?

Did you take action to resolve the problem?

Which are the paths to justice that people rely on?

Which was the most useful provider of justice ?

Do legal problems reach resolutions in Colombia?

How do you assess the quality of justice?

Justice Dashboard

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