Open Justice — Easier access to justice through plain-language communication and a unified, citizen-tested transparency portal. (BRSCS0007)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Action plan – Santa Catarina, Brazil, 2026 – 2026
Inception Report: Not available
Commitment Start: Jan 2026
Commitment End: Nov 2026
Institutions involved:
- Court of Justice of Santa Catarina (TJSC)
- Public Defense Office of Santa Catarina (DPESC).
Primary Policy Area:
Primary Sector:
OGP Value:
- Access to information
- Civic Participation
- Public Accountability
Description
Commitment ID
BRSCS0007
Commitment Title
Open Justice - Promote access to justice, rights, and public services through the adoption of Plain Language practices, the expansion of active transparency, and the integration of information channels to society, making institutional communication c
Problem
Legal and judicial communication is historically characterized by highly complex, archaic, and technical jargon. This linguistic barrier distances ordinary citizens from understanding their core rights, legal rulings, and defense channels. Furthermore, active transparency portals are often fragmented and lack direct civic input or user-centric usability testing.
Status quo
In early 2026, TJSC piloted plain language newsletters and unified its scattered transparency portal infrastructure. DPESC ran extensive academic diagnostics with UDESC (winning 1st place at the Inova Connection Awards for Plain Language) and established democratic paths for choosing its External Ombudsman via social movements, yet these tracks require structural institutionalization.
Action
This commitment standardizes "Open Justice" across two main fronts: institutionalizing Plain Language (Linguagem Simples) via formal manuals, simplified jurisprudence bulletins, and modified virtual assistants; and launching an integrated, user-tested TJSC Transparency Portal. It also includes finishing the democratic election of the DPESC Ombudsman by social movements and running 6 regional itinerant citizen hearings.
How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem described above?
It systematically dismantles linguistic barriers, ensuring that judicial notifications and rights-based services are clear to all individuals regardless of education level. By unifiying active transparency with citizen user registries and placing the choice of the Ombudsman directly into the hands of organized social movements, it creates an accountable, transparent, and user-tested justice ecosystem.
What long-term goal as identified in your Open Government Strategy does this commitment relate to?
Aligns directly with democratizing the justice system, enhancing active transparency, expanding the right to public information, and increasing social accountability across autonomous legal bodies.
Primary Policy Area
Inclusion, Right to Information
Primary Sector
Justice
What OGP value is this commitment relevant to?
| Access to information | Strips complex legal terminology from case updates, public websites, and open data platforms, delivering information in clear everyday prose |
| Civic Participation | Institutionalizes grass-roots community voting for the External Ombudsman and gathers direct civil society demands via Mesoregional traveling forums. |
| Public Accountability | Introduces user panels and a specialized "User Registry" with the Social Observatory to test and grade transparency portals. |