Access to Justice for Survivors of Gender-Based Violence: Prosecutorial Barriers, Victim Protection Mechanisms, and Institutional Reform
Keywords:
gender-based violence, access to justice, prosecution, victim protection, sexual violence, domestic violence, procedural justice, institutional reform, legal aid, survivor-centred justiceAbstract
Background: Formal criminalization of gender-based violence (GBV) has expanded substantially, yet survivors continue to encounter a justice gap between rights on paper and usable, safe and timely remedies. The gap is produced not only by substantive law but also by reporting barriers, police practice, evidentiary decision-making, prosecutorial attrition, courtroom treatment, inadequate protection and weak institutional accountability.
Objective: This review compares evidence on prosecutorial barriers, victim-protection mechanisms and justice-system reforms, and develops a measurable framework for translating formal legal rights into continuous access to justice.
Methods: A structured comparative review and policy analysis synthesized 28 core empirical, evaluation and policy evidence records published through December 2025, supplemented by foundational international and regional legal standards. Evidence was coded across reporting, policing, prosecution, evidence, protection, participation, legal support, delay, bias, intersectionality and accountability domains.
Results: Barriers clustered at multiple handoffs: fear and legal inaccessibility before reporting; disbelief, stereotyping and weak evidence strategy during investigation; opaque evidentiary thresholds and delay at prosecution; safety and communication failures during case progression; and intrusive or myth-based courtroom practice. Effective mechanisms were multi-component rather than singular: specialist and trauma-informed practice, independent legal advice or representation, coordinated risk protection, suspect-focused and corroboration-aware investigation, reasoned prosecutorial review, special measures, timely communication and auditable institutional performance. The review introduces the Survivor Access-to-Justice Continuity Framework (SAJCF), comprising seven measurable domains: reachability, procedural dignity, evidence integrity, protection continuity, prosecutorial accountability, timeliness/communication and institutional learning.
Contribution: The SAJCF is novel in treating access to justice as continuity across procedural handoffs rather than court entry or conviction alone, while explicitly preserving evidentiary standards, prosecutorial independence and defence rights.
Conclusion: Institutional reform should be evaluated by whether survivors can enter, remain in and exit justice processes safely and intelligibly, and whether decisions are evidence-based, timely, reviewable and free from gendered stereotyping.
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