Conducting socio-legal research in Portugal: From the experience of the Permanent Observatory for Justice to the study of working conditions in courts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.1735Keywords:
Socio-legal studies, judicial system, trust and involvement, judicial institutions and professionals, methodologies, PortugalAbstract
Empirical research on judicial systems requires diversified methodologies adapted to the contexts of courts and judicial actors. The experience gathered through the Permanent Observatory for Justice tells us that the support of judicial and political institutions and professionals’ associations are essential to reach a ‘hard-to-reach population’ and obtain robust results. The Observatory, with its interdisciplinary approach, had a significant public impact and contributed to public policies on justice. It was also fundamental to design and implement judicial training actions, through the Observatory’s Legal and Judicial Training Unit. The aim is to discuss the developed strategies to ensure the involvement of the institutional and judicial actors, build trust, and achieve valid results. The use of the project QUALIS, which assessed working conditions in Portuguese courts, allows us to focus on a concrete example of use of strategies and methodologies, with impacts on the improvement of the judicial system.
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