Eurasia Foundation: Saratov Justices of the Peace

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Getting Their Day in Court:

A training program for Justices of the Peace makes sure
that average people can resolve their conflicts
efficiently and fairly in a court of law.

Saratov, Russia

Story and Photos by Elizabeth Buchanan, Southern Russia Regional Office

Raisa Avrasova watches as dust slowly settles onto her green clapboard gate. She fondly brushes it off with an old straw broom, revealing a red wooden plaque bearing the address: 44-3 Radishev Street. "This is my home, my place. I've lived here for the past forty-three years." Until last October she thought she would always live here, but an ill-fated confrontation with an unfriendly neighbor nearly destroyed Avrasova's peace of mind and threatened to drive her from her home. Were it not for a ruling from Elena Gundareva, a Saratov Justice of the Peace, Avrasova's life as she knew it would have come to an end.

In today's Russia, where incessant delays and red tape typify the judicial system, the rebirth of an old idea has spawned new hope. In 1998, recognizing that cumbersome legal procedures barred access to justice for millions of ordinary citizens, the Supreme Court of Russia reintroduced the pre-Revolutionary institution of Justices of the Peace. Justices of the Peace are not merely registrars of official documents, as they are in the United States and other countries, but full-scale primary courts that can provide ordinary Russians with instant access to the justice system—access that is an introduction for many to a society based on law. With the help of a grant from the Eurasia Foundation, the Justices of the Peace are able to handle a great number of misdemeanor and petty civil cases that until recently clogged the dockets of the superior courts.

Raisa Avrasova, a senior citizen in one of Saratov's poorest regions, has already benefited from the Justice of the Peace program. In October 2000, a neighbor with whom she had previously had a property dispute attacked her outside her one-story home. During her subsequent ten-day hospitalization, a local police officer took her statement and filed a complaint on her behalf. When she was released from the hospital, however, she learned that the policeman had gone on a two-month vacation and that she would have to wait until he returned to press charges against her attacker. "I was afraid to go back home. But where else could I go?" Raisa explains, gesturing toward her clean, humble kitchen. "My husband and I built this house with our bare hands."

As luck would have it, Avrasova learned of Saratov's Justice of the Peace system. Within a matter of weeks, her attacker was tried and fined, and Avrasova was able to return home safely. Her neighbor has not bothered her again. "I give thanks every day that I found someone who could help me. The Justice was so kind—she didn't treat my problem as trivial, at all."

Thanks to an innovative pilot training program created by the Saratov Judicial Department with a $30,760 grant from the Eurasia Foundation, the Saratov Oblast (one of twenty-six regions to adopt the Justice of the Peace program) is a pioneer in terms of the volume and quality of the services it delivers. Under the grant, the Saratov Law Academy, the Saratov Judicial Department, and seven sitting Oblast-level judges trained 121 lawyers and prosecutors to work as Justices of the Peace. The Supreme Court of Russia has praised this program and cited it as a model for emulation throughout the country, with its focus not only on law and ethics, but psychology, criminal behavior, and interpersonal communication, as well.

"The Saratov Oblast court system works more efficiently now than it ever has, thanks to this training program," explains Justice Evgeny Druzin, a renowned expert on criminal law and procedure and one of seven judges chosen as instructors for the training program. "If the lowest-level judges are properly trained, I can concentrate on my own docket of cases without having to spend time correcting the mistakes of others. The Saratov Justices of the Peace have tried two, maybe three times more cases than in other regions, simply because they are better trained and more prepared for their jobs after having studied with judges who have more than twenty years' experience. You just can't find that in a textbook."

The Saratov Oblast Justices of the Peace resolved more than ten thousand cases in the first four months of 2001. They have had a significant effect on the lives of ordinary citizens in the Saratov Oblast: now, instead of waiting many months for a cursory hearing before one of Russia's overburdened superior courts, ordinary people have immediate access to the justice system. Through the Judicial Department's training program, the Justices of the Peace learned to resolve title disputes, divorces, and civil cases efficiently.

Avrasova, along with the thousands of other Saratov Oblast residents who have benefited from the Justice of the Peace program, now knows that Russia's legal system can and should work for the benefit of all her citizens, regardless of who they are or how large or small their problems. Knowing that a legitimate legal process exists that will address complaints seriously, Raisa Avrasova has more confidence in the rule of law in Saratov, which allows her to recover from the crime against her with peace of mind. Sipping tea at her kitchen table and admiring her meticulously tended flower garden through her window at 44-3 Radishev Street, Raisa is content.

2001