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Sendable guide

How to send and use the Justice Matrix.

First, how to use the Matrix yourself and build a research space that tracks what you are working on. Then, how to introduce it to someone else: who it is for, which link to send, and how to help when a user gets stuck.

Best first link

Send this guide when the person is new. Send the UN pack for review. Send Ask when the person has a question. Send Youth Remand when the question is about children in detention or alternatives.

Using it yourself

From a question to an answer you can trust.

You do not need an account to start. Ask, then check the sources yourself. The Matrix earns trust one citation at a time.

01Ask in plain EnglishOpen Ask the Matrix and type the real question, the way you would say it to a colleague. You get an answer first, with numbered [C1] [C2] citations underneath it. This is research support with citations, not legal advice.02Check a citation yourselfBelow the answer, each citation also appears as a card in a Cited records list. Open a card to read the full case or campaign, and check the holding against what the answer claimed. Trust it where it earns it, not on faith.03Read the trust stateEvery record shows how solid it is. Human-reviewed means a reviewer opened the source and confirmed the record. Source checked means it was checked against its source of record, though a human review may still be pending. Needs review means it was machine-found and link-backed, but no person has reviewed it yet.04Browse without askingExplore lets you filter every record in the Matrix, and its trust filter includes a Human-reviewed view (cases only) that shows records a person has confirmed. Issues group the law and the movement around one strategic question. Coverage is the honest list of what the Matrix cannot yet answer.

Build your research profile

Your profile assembles itself from two things you do while working, both keyed to your email. Then a magic link pulls them together. Nothing to fill in up front.

01

Watch something

On a case, campaign, or coverage gap, choose Watch and enter your email. It joins your list. There is no signup form.

02

Save an answer

After an answer you want to keep, choose Save answer. It freezes to a permanent, citable link you can quote and return to. Sign in first (below) for the save to join your research space; without signing in it stays a shareable public link.

03

Sign in to see it together

Go to Your research and enter your email. We email you a 6-digit code (no password to remember) — type it in, and everything you watched or saved under that email shows up in one place. Turn on the weekly digest there to be emailed when a watched record changes.

Open Your research

What your profile gives you

Watches

Everything you follow, newest first, each row linking back to the record.

Saved answers

Your frozen answers as permanent web links you can cite and return to. We mark one "re-check" the moment a cited record changes or its trust state moves, so a saved answer tells you when the ground under it has shifted.

Recent questions

The questions you asked on this device, with one-click re-run. Stored only in your browser and never tied to your identity on the server, to protect legal privilege.

Weekly digest

Opt in to a periodic roundup of what moved on the records and issues you follow.

What is live

Live now

Cited answers with a trust state on every record. Watch and Save build your personal research space, tied to your email. Saved answers flag themselves for re-check when a cited record changes. And the weekly email digest is live: turn it on from the research page and you get a summary of what moved on the records you watch.

By design

Your recent questions stay on the one device you asked them on and are never tied to your identity on the server. That is a deliberate privilege choice, not a gap, so they do not follow you across machines. Watches and saved answers do, because they are keyed to your email.

Links to send

Start here

Use this when someone needs the big picture and the main entry points.

Open route

Sendable user guide

Use this when you are introducing the Matrix to someone new.

Open route

UN / OHCHR review pack

Use this for George, NJP, OHCHR, or anyone reviewing the background paper and source matrices.

Open route

Ask a plain question

Use this when someone has a question and needs cited records, not a raw database.

Open route

Search the Matrix

Use this for lawyers, researchers, and advocates who want to search and filter directly.

Open route

Youth remand walkthrough

Use this when the question is about children, remand, custody, detention, or alternatives.

Open route

Contribute or correct

Use this for missing cases, campaign updates, source links, corrections, or notes that need curator review.

Open route

Target audience

Lawyers and clinics

Find precedent, compare jurisdictions, check sources, and decide what needs human legal review.

Advocates and campaigners

See the movement layer beside the law: campaigns, tactics, coalitions, issues, and public asks.

NJP / OHCHR reviewers

Open the review pack, read the status brief, inspect the source matrices, and see the live route.

Funders and policy people

Start with issues and guided routes before reading records. Look for gaps, coverage, and next build priorities.

Community and support workers

Use the youth remand route for plain-language explanation, support pathways, and consent-aware evidence.

AI assistants and follow-up agents

Send the right link, explain the boundary, and move the person to Ask, Explore, or Youth Remand based on their need.

Ten-minute walkthrough

01Send one link, not ten.If the person is new, send /justice-matrix/user-guide. If they are reviewing the UN work, send /justice-matrix/un.02Start from their question.Use Ask the Matrix for plain-language questions. It retrieves cited Matrix records and keeps it clear that this is research support, not legal advice.03Search when they know terms.Use Explore for case names, issues, jurisdictions, campaigns, evidence, categories, or to search by meaning (finds records even when your exact words do not appear).04Use the recovery buttons.If Explore has no direct matches, use Try semantic search, Ask this question, Open Youth Remand guide, or Clear filters.05Go to the right section.Refugee and asylum work goes through the Matrix and UN pack. Youth detention, remand, and alternatives go through Youth Remand.

How to support someone

  • OKAsk what they are trying to decide before sending a link.
  • OKTell them this is research support, not legal advice.
  • OKIf they type a full question and get no results, send them to Ask the Matrix.
  • OKIf the question mentions a child, detention, custody, watchhouses, remand, or age, send the Youth Remand guide too.
  • OKIf they find a missing case, campaign, source, or correction, send /justice-matrix/contribute.
  • OKIf they need partner help, ask what jurisdiction, issue, audience, and deadline they are working with.

What to say out loud

The Matrix helps you find records, issues, campaigns, and evidence. It can answer plain questions with citations, but it does not replace legal advice. If search does not work, that is not failure. Use the recovery path: semantic search, Ask, Youth Remand, or clear filters.

AI-sendable message

Subject: Justice Matrix links and quick guide

Hi [name],

Here is the Justice Matrix user guide:
[paste /justice-matrix/user-guide link]

The shortest way to use it is:
1. Start with the user guide if you want orientation.
2. Use Ask the Matrix if you have a plain-language question.
3. Use Explore if you already know a case, campaign, issue, country, or keyword.
4. Use the UN / OHCHR pack if you are reviewing the NJP / OHCHR material.
5. Use the Youth Remand guide for questions about children in detention, remand, custody, watchhouses, or alternatives.
6. Use Contribute if you have a missing source, correction, or update that should go into review.

Important boundary: this is research support and a way to find cited records. It is not legal advice.

If you try a search and get no result, use the recovery buttons on the page: Try semantic search, Ask this question, Open Youth Remand guide, or Clear filters.

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