Paths to justice

Do all citizens have equal access to justice? The WZB research group Law and Governance in the Context of Social Inequalities is researching legal barriers in Germany. Together with designer Sophie Pischel, the researchers have developed the website wege-zum-recht.de. The site illustrates the hurdles that exist on the way to enforcing the law and how they can be overcome. The project from the Visual Society Program aims to make complex legal processes easier to understand and thus strengthen social participation in the law.

Visitors to the website can use different levels to decide how deep they want to delve into the topic. On the homepage, the basics of the various paths to the law are explained using scrollytelling. After the intro, interested parties can use an infographic to find out more about possible stages, barriers and assistance on the path to justice. Eight specific case studies illustrate how individual and structural factors facilitate, hinder or prevent access to justice. In addition, the glossary provides contextual knowledge. The site is available in: German, Turkish, Polish, English and Plain Language.

The project wege-zum-recht.de was developed in cooperation between the WZB and the UdK as part of the Visual Society Program. The aim of this cooperation is to communicate scientific results in the simplest possible way and to make them comprehensible.

20/05/2025, MP