Publications
Read and download reports, handbooks, briefing papers, legal and policy submissions, and fact sheets from the Open Society Justice Initiative.
Improving Pretrial Justice: The Roles of Lawyers and Paralegals
This report looks at the positive impact that early intervention by lawyers and paralegals can have on pretrial justice and provides a guide to the ways in which lawyer and paralegal schemes can be set up.
April 2012 | Ed CapePretrial Detention and Health: Unintended Consequences, Deadly Results
This report, aimed at health professionals, looks at the sometimes disastrous health impacts of the excessive use of pretrial detention.
November 2011Pretrial Justice: Ensuring Fair Treatment for the Poor
James A. Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, set out a range of steps needed to ensure fair treatment of the poor by national justice systems during a meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
October 27, 2011Joint Statement on Pretrial Detention in Africa
16 civil society groups called on the African Commission for Human and Peoples' Rights to work to end excessive use of pretrial detention.
October 25, 2011Pretrial Detention and Torture: Why Pretrial Detainees Face the Greatest Risk
Of the nearly 10 million people detained globally, those held in pretrial detention face the most significant risk of torture and other forms of ill-treatment.
June 2011The Socioeconomic Impact of Pretrial Detention
Approximately 10 million people per year pass through pretrial detention; many will spend months or even years behind bars—without being tried or found guilty. This report details how this global phenomenon wastes human potential and undermines...
February 2011Improving Pretrial Justice: The Role of Lawyers and Paralegals
There are many causes for the global over-use of pretrial detention, but there are also cost-effective solutions. As this fact sheet outlines, early intervention by lawyers and paralegals can have a positive impact.
December 2010Global Campaign for Pretrial Justice: Africa Regional Retreat
This report summarizes the sessions and discussions that took place at an Africa regional retreat, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, of the Global Campaign for Pretrial Justice.
December 2010