Access to justice in an informal urban settlement in Accra, Ghana

Informal social justice—a process whereby people seek justice beyond the formal criminal justice system—is an important concept in the social sciences. Whilst informal justice such as traditional (e.g., chiefs) and religious authorities (e.g., imams) has the potential to improve justice in both urban and rural settings in developing countries due to limited opportunities to access the criminal justice system, informal social justice has received limited attention in the criminological discourse. Our main aim in this paper is to identify the users of informal justice mechanisms in a major slum in Ghana’s capital of Accra, where both formal and informal justice systems coexist. Using semi-structured interviews with various traditional justice actors—providers, users, and witnesses—we identify which slum residents’ access to informal justice, and a broad range of experiences associated with the use of traditional justice, such as satisfaction with the processes and outcomes, and the legitimacy conferred on such institutions. We further discuss some implications of these findings in relation to conflict resolution, gender empowerment, and the criminal justice system.