When to Start with Justice Change?

We have something to fix

You are a prime minister who has just been appointed. You are an about-to-be or newly appointed minister of justice, attorney-general, chief juistice, or chief prosecutor. You know of the work of HiiL, the World Justice Project and the Justice Action Coalition. You have read the 2023 OECD Recommendation on people centered justice systems and you came across its Toolkit. You deeply want the justice system of your country to change. You have formulated the foundations for a new vision with a few trusted people. But when do you start? This is one of most underestimated questions a justice leader will face.

Here is what experience tells us.

A New Appointment

Future prime ministers: a new appointment is a powerful window. These moments give a new minister of justice, chief justice, or prosecutor general something rare in public systems: licence. The informal credit to ask hard questions, convene people across the usual fault lines, and signal that some things will be done differently. New leaders can do what their predecessors often cannot: bring stakeholders together without immediately triggering defensive reflexes, and frame justice reform as a collective project rather than a personal legacy. Chief Justice Martha Koome of Kenya is a good example. She used the start of her mandate to launch the Social Transformation through Access to Justice Blueprint. She started by asking questions first. Inviting the system and society into the conversation. Then she built a people-centred vision from listening, which she rapidly put ‘out there’. Those who appoint justice leaders - prime ministers and parliaments - can shape this moment deliberately. The right person at the right time is not a detail. It can be the strategy.

A Crisis

Crisis is the other great opener. The kind that breaks the illusion that systems are working. A scandal. Riots. A court system visibly overwhelmed. Pressure that cannot be deflected. The Dutch childcare benefits scandal is a recent example. What began as a technical failure in tax enforcement became a moral shock: thousands of families wrongly accused, livelihoods destroyed, trust shattered. The response forced a reckoning with how easily systems become inhumane when procedures override people. It served as an engine for soul searching, inquiries, and changes. Colombia is another. It faced a serious conflict crisis, which led to a 2015 agreement that led to the Special Peace Courts. This novel justice mechanisms organised enough accountability to satisfy international law and victims' rights, enough leniency to bring perpetrators in voluntarily, and enough legitimacy in a polarised society to survive politically. It has exposed crimes that were far wider than previously acknowledged. It has operated under sustained political attack. And it has now produced convictions, restorative rather than custodial. Crises change the rules temporarily. Defensive instincts weaken. Questions previously off-limits suddenly become discussable: Who is this system actually for? Where does discretion sit? How do we prevent harm rather than only correct it? Change can come through cracks opened by failure.

Before Elections

Less obvious and often underused is the window before elections. Counterintuitive, because elections are political by definition. But precisely because positions are not yet fixed, there can be more room for shared exploration. In Nigeria ahead of the last presidential elections, justice actors used the pre-election period to bring stakeholders across parties together quietly, without forcing commitments. The focus was not on promises but on diagnosis: what is broken, what is no longer sustainable, what any future government will have to confront. Done well, this de-politicises justice reform rather than politicising it. Framing justice as foundational infrastructure, in a non- partisan way. A new minister or chief justice can then begin with a prepared ecosystem rather than a blank page.

When Evidence becomes Undeniable

Sometimes the opening comes from data. Canada offers one of the clearest examples. Over many years, researchers systematically documented what had long been sensed but rarely proven: who experiences justice problems, where they fall out of the system, how rarely formal processes deliver timely resolution. That evidence helped catalyse the National Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters, and ultimately a shared language for measuring whether justice systems actually work for people: nine justice development goals, real indicators, and a shift in mindset that made denial harder and complacency riskier. Leaders could no longer plausibly say: we didn't know.

Look for the Moment - and Make It Happen

There is no perfect moment. But there are good and bad moments to choose from. What counts is recognising them when they open and being ready to move. That ‘moving’ requires leadership that outlasts the energy of the opening. It requires a vision that people can actually rally behind: compelling, people-centred, easy to understand. Based on that, it needs a strategy that is grounded in data on what is broken and for whom; one that is inclusive in its design, built with rather than for the people it serves; and one that takes the political economy seriously.

But choosing the right moment of change can be a critically important first domino. Choose well.

Justice Compass Advisers helps governments, civil society, businesses, and international organisations with the four things that turn people centered justice ambition into impact: strategic advice and policy design, scaling justice innovation, data and measurement, and trusted leadership conversations. See

https://www.justicecompassadvisers.com/ or contact sam.muller@justicecompassadvisers.com