Data science for justice: Evidence from a nationwide randomised experiment in Kenya
This randomised experiment in Kenya aims to reduce court case postponements by providing judges with information about their rates and reasons for adjournments. The intervention saves an estimated 20,000 adjournments and increases the speed of court proceedings and demand for justice.
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Chemin-et-al-Policy-Brief-January-2024.pdf
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- We implement a nationwide randomised experiment to address the slowness of court proceedings in Kenya, which has detrimental effects on access to justice.
- Legal experts argue that judges in Kenya grant excessive "adjournments," postponing cases to the next available date without resolving the case.
- In our intervention, we display the number of adjournments given in a court on an official one-pager document and send this to courts in a treatment group.
- This intervention has saved 20,000 adjournments, representing collectively 5,000 years of waiting time for court cases.
- Following the intervention, we find an increase in the speed of courts and the demand for justice, particularly for commercial and succession cases.