15 June 2011
The Rule of Law Index was published this week as part of the World Justice Project. The index is a way of measuring the reality of the rule of law as experienced by ordinary members in the participating countries. It is outcome focused (eg absence of corruption rather than the number of police officers). And New Zealand measures up well – as it has since the first index was released in 2008. This year New Zealand is in the top 4 places on seven of the eight factors (and 52 sub factors) which make up the index.
A Washington Post article reports …”New Zealand was ranked the least-corrupt nation of 66 examined ….while the U.S. finished an unremarkable 17th. The ranking is another feather in New Zealand’s cap, after the country tied for 1st in…the Transparency International 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index.”
When comparing the sixty six participating countries New Zealand was assessed as follows;
Limited government powers 2nd
Absence of corruption 1st
Order and security 11th (At 10th, only on this factor does Australia rate better than NZ)
Fundamental rights 3rd
Open government 2nd
Regulatory enforcement 3rd
Access to civil justice 4th
Effective criminal justice 3rd
The absence of corruption in the judiciary, the military and the police is tarnished somewhat by a perception that the executive branch has lower standards than other parts of government. New Zealand is assessed as strong on protecting the freedom of opinion and expression, for processes on sanctioning misconduct by officials and for the lawful transition of power to successive governments.
The poor evaluation of law and order is a reflection of comparatively low scores for effective control of crime, effectiveness in limiting civil conflict and the extent to which people resort to violence to redress grievances.
New Zealand was given only average ratings for the accessibility, affordability, delay-free and non discriminatory character of civil justice. The effectiveness of the correctional system was also substantially below the rating given to most other subfactors.