Exploring delays and backlogs in administrative justice

Title: Delays and Backlogs as an Administrative Justice Problem

Abstract: Backlogs and delays are significant problems of modern administrative justice, and tribunals often suffer from them, but they are rarely squarely addressed in research. This chapter starts from the premise that delays and backlogs ought to be treated as a significant matter of administrative justice worthy of critical inquiry and not a mere “practical detail.” It delineates four major questions at the centre of the challenge to advance understanding of this problem—the questions of definition, causes, effects, and management. This chapter examines these questions in the context of immigration and asylum tribunal appeals in the UK—where backlogs and delays are not uncommon and have even reached “crisis” levels—and offers broader observations on the nature of delays and backlogs in administrative justice.

Author: Joe Tomlinson and Eleana Kasoulide

Publication: Administrative Tribunals in the Common Law World (Hart Bloomsbury 2024)

Link to book: here.