Particularly in developing countries, the prevalence of crime and the quality of criminal justice institutions are matters of profound and immediate importance. Weak justice institutions allow criminals to operate with impunity and corruption to flourish. When fear dominates a society, it stifles the lives of all citizens, particularly those living in poverty.

Providing access to an effective and respectful security and justice sector is increasingly recognized as essential to good governance—affecting a government’s ability to gain and retain legitimacy.  Accountability engenders a positive participatory cycle: it gives government leaders the incentives they need to provide the transparency that in turn allows nongovernmental organizations to strengthen their capacity to engage their governments.

To help governments achieve these goals, Vera employs several strategic objectives: 

• equipping government leaders to initiate and manage criminal justice reforms; 
• equipping civil society leaders to manage and initiate criminal justice reforms; 
• expanding the use of empirical methods by both government and civil society to assess progress in security and justice and hold institutions accountable; 
• creating public awareness of criminal justice innovations and fostering civil society organizations and governments working together to design and implement criminal justice reforms; and
• mainstreaming gender through the provision of technical assistance to government and civil society.

Vera’s International Program seeks to collaborate with our international partners in devising innovative methods for empirical research as well as in the transfer of capacity to our colleagues around the world. The program has a particular interest in developing and implementing successful projects in data-poor conflict and post-conflict environments. Vera’s International Program has collaborated with United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UK Department of International Development, and the American Bar Association’s World Justice Project among others.

In addition, 2011 marks Vera’s10th anniversary of working collaboratively with reformers in the People’s Republic of China to facilitate justice innovations and policy changes that are rooted in experience, guided by empirical methods, and consistent with international human rights standards.

Why Work Internationally?
Vera research and analysis has yielded a wealth of information about what works and what doesn’t in U.S. justice systems. Vera’s unique contribution to international justice reform is its ability to share and spread its core, research-based methodology so that others around the globe can press forward for reforms that are locally informed.

For more information, contact program director Monica Thornton.