Justice Dashboard

Justice Dashboard

Justice in
The Netherlands

The data on this page is drawn from a Justice Needs and Satisfaction survey conducted in 2015. We interviewed more than 6 000 randomly selected adults. Their voices represent the justice needs and experiences of millions of Dutch people.

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0 %
Experienced
legal problems
0 %
Took action to resolve their problem
0 %
Completely or partially resolved their problem
0
Number of people interviewed in The Netherlands

The justice sector in the Netherlands comprises criminal, civil, and administrative justice institutions and alternative dispute systems.

In the Netherlands, ‘Paths to Justice’ studies provide insight into the experiences of Dutch citizens with the legal system. These studies show how many and which justiciable problems pertaining to civil and administrative law citizens have encountered, which actions citizens have taken in response to these problems, the results obtained, and their evaluation of legal services and procedures. These studies published by the Research and Documentation Centre of the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security, have been conducted every five years, with the most recent data covering 2015-2019. There are also data on the landscape of justice problems of small and medium-sized businesses of up to ten employees. Data on criminal problems are perhaps slightly more fragmented. 

Below you will find the story of the justice problems in the everyday life of people in the Netherlands. People told us how the problems affect them, what they do to resolve disputes and crimes, and how they experienced the formal and informal justice system.

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

  • 55% Dutch experienced one or more legal problems in the last four years.
  • The most serious problems that Dutch experienced are around crime, consumer problems, employment and disputes with neighbours.
  • Around 60% Dutch said that the problem either had negligible negative impact or had a small impact on their life.
  • 85% of those who had to deal with a legal problem took action to resolve their problem.
  • 70% Dutch sought legal information and advice to resolve their problem.
  • 43% people said that self action was most helpful in resolving their problem.
  • 58% Dutch were able to either completely or partially resolve their problem.

Read more about innovating justice
in The Netherlands

How people experience justice in Netherlands

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 The Netherlands encountered one or more legal problems in the last 4 years.

Where do problems occur?

The map shows where in The Netherlands problems occur. It breaks down the incidence of legal problems per region.

Which are the most serious 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.

How are problems resolved in Netherlands?

Starting from the all people in The Netherlands, this chart shows how many people encounter legal problems, how many take action and ultimately how many problems are considered to be completely resolved.

What was the impact of the problem?

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

 

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 steps that people take to resolve a problem is a justice journey.

Which was the most useful provider of justice?

People involve various providers of justice to resolve their problems. 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.

Is the problem resolved at the moment?

People need fair resolutions to their problems to move on with their lives.

This chart show how they assess the resolution of the problem at the time of the interview.

How do you assess the quality of justice?

Research shows that people assess three key elements of their justice journeys:

– Quality of the process

– Quality of the outcome

– Costs of accessing justice

This chart shows how the users of justice in Netherlands perceive the three elements of their justice journey.

The Justice Dashboard is by HiiL. We deliver user-friendly justice. For information about our work and country projects, please visit www.hiil.org

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Justice Dashboard

The Hague Institute for
Innovation of Law
Tel: +31 70 762 0700
E-mail: info@hiil.org

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