Summary
This report presents the research findings and analysis of ten months of field study as part of the United States Institute of Peace and George Washington University project titled “From Current Practices of Justice to Rule of Law: Policy Options for Liberia’s First Post-Conflict Decade.” The analysis we present, based on three types of research methods (focus groups, individual interviews with parties to specific disputes, and interviews with chiefs, zoes [traditional leaders], and other justice practitioners) employed primarily in three counties (Grand Gedeh, Lofa, Nimba, and less extensively in parts of Monrovia), is intended to provide the Liberian government and other stakeholders in the country with more robust evidence than has hitherto been available on how both formal and customary justice systems are perceived and utilized by Liberians. It also addresses what implications this evidence has for policy options regarding justice sector reform. Our methodology was designed to trace actual practice of dispute resolution, regardless of which institution–formal, customary, or other–was involved. This allows us to understand the choices made by litigants and their levels of satisfaction in relational value to the available alternatives. These realities facing Liberians in the pursuit of justice, as well as the social beliefs that inform Liberians’ conceptions of justice, are critical to take into account in any effort to design a successful justice strategy for the immediate and medium terms.