Extend capacity and transparency of judicial system (LR0039)

3.1 Build capacity within the justice system; and 3.2 Engage citizens on justice issues at the local level. The commitment aims to fill the existing capacity gap in the judicial system by creating jury management offices; and increase citizen engagement by training them to serve as jurors. This is aimed at furthering public understanding of local laws and services available to them. This will increase accountability and help build citizens’ trust in the judicial system. The following milestones will be reached to fulfill the commitments: 1. Establish jury offices in all counties; 2. Train and assign professionals in magisterial courts in all counties; 3. Training for the remaining 60 magistrates (so far 240 have been trained against previous target of 300) across all 15 counties; 4. Raise awareness around the roles of juries in all 15 counties; 5. The development of an Open Justice initiative through which citizens will monitor local courts, track cases and follow-up on the return of bond fees; Milestone Activity With a Verifiable Deliverable Deadline: Responsible agency 1. Open 3 jury management offices in 3 counties in two years Begins January 2021 and ongoing until December 2022 Judiciary 2. Train and assign 120 public professionals within magisterial courts in all 15 counties Begins January 2021 and ongoing until December 2022 Judiciary 3. Train 60 magistrates in the remaining counties Begins January 2021 and ongoing until December 2022 Judiciary 4. Institutional & community awareness campaigns on jury services annually in each of the 4 regions Begins January 2021 and ongoing until December Judiciary 2022 5. An active database for efficient tracking and following up on bonds Begins January 2021 and ongoing until December 2022 Judicary

Action Plan Review

Commitment 3: Access to Justice

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest

Results Report

Commitment 3. ACCESS TO JUSTICE

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest

● Completion: Not started

● Did it open government? No early results to report yet

This commitment focused on building capacity within the justice system and engaging citizens on justice issues at the local level. The five milestones foreseen in this commitment were not carried out due to financial constraints.

The Judiciary did not open jury management offices in three counties (Bong, Bassa, and Riverscess) as planned. [60] A review of the Liberia Judiciary website [61] shows that jury management offices were established in eight of the sixteen judicial circuits. However, as dates are not provided, it is not possible to establish when these management offices were set up and if the three are in the counties mentioned above. Annual regional awareness campaigns on jury services and the establishment of a database to track and follow up on bonds were also not carried out. [62]

OGP Point of Contact Ralph G. Jimmeh and the action plan Self-Assessment Report stated that the lack of resources prevented the intended training and assigning of 120 public professionals with magistrate courts in all 15 counties and training of 60 magistrates in the remaining counties. [63]The Liberian Judiciary magazine [64] reports that between 2010 and 2020, the Judiciary Institute, in collaboration with International Development Partners, recruited and trained 240 college graduates who serve as associate magistrates within the Judiciary. It speaks to additional training programs for judges, magistrates, public defenders, prosecutors, clerks, and ministerial officers. However, from this report, it is not clear that these figures can be attributed to the milestones.