Page 13 - Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality

to many factors, including the inability to find a suitable home .16 Poverty creates legal problems that middle class and wealthy individuals will not have . Failure to take preventative measures puts poor people, who have no or too little access to assistance or resources, on a collision course that leads them right to administrative hearings and courts . The justice system traditionally tries to resolve their legal issues without attention to the underlying social services needs . Some state court systems have moved toward handling the civil legal issues and the social service needs of impoverished persons using inter-disciplinary approaches .17 However, these efforts are not widespread .18
In New York in 2013, there were an estimated 1 .8 million litigants without lawyers primarily in housing, family, divorce, consumer, small estates, and foreclosure cases .19 Legal Services providers increasingly turn away persons seeking civil legal services .20 It is estimated that, in the United States, we meet only 20 percent of the need for civil legal services .21 This dismal statistic has earned the United States a low ranking as compared to other wealthy nations by The World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, which measures how the rule of law is experienced in everyday life around the globe .22 The United States ranked lower than other wealthy nations in access to justice in the civil area based on lack of legal assistance .23 In 2012, the survey found, “Legal assistance is frequently expensive or unavailable, and the gap between rich and poor individuals in terms of both actual use of and satisfaction with the civil court system is significant . In addition, there is a perception that ethnic minorities and foreigners receive unequal treatment .” 24
16 See, e.g., In the of Matter of Yates, 63 N.Y.2d 388 (1984) (addressing a petition to terminate the parental rights of parents of “limited resources and abilities,” who experienced “extended periods of unemployment, inability to pay rent, lack of transportation, telephone, heat and other amenities,” and failed to meet the requirements for return of their child from foster care, including obtaining a “suitable home”). See also Matter of Shina R., N.Y.L.J., April 27, 2015, p. 17, col. 3 (Fam. Ct., Bronx Co., April 10, 2010).
17 seedco, housing help program: homeless prevenTion piloT final reporT (2010), available at http://www.nyc.gov/ html/dhs/downloads/pdf/final_HHP_Seedco_rpt.pdf.; New York State Access to Justice Program, Litigants with Diverse Needs: The Assigned Counsel Project, nycourTs.gov, http://www.nycourts.gov/ip/nya2j/diverseneeds/ assignedcounsel.shtml.
18 In the criminal area problem-solving courts are more prevalent. See, e.g., Bureau of JusTice assisTance, proBlem- solving JusTice in The uniTed sTaTes: common principles, available at http://www.courtinnovation.org/sites/default/ files/Problem_Solving_Justice_in_the_US%5B1%5D.pdf.; Problem-Solving Courts: A Resource Guide, naTional cenTer for sTaTe courTs http://www.ncsc.org/Topics/Problem-Solving-Courts/Problem-Solving-Courts/Resource- Guide.aspx.
19 The Task force To expand access To civil legal services in new york, reporT To The chief Judge of The sTaTe of new york 1 (2014), available at http://www.nycourts.gov/ip/access-civil-legal-services/PDF/CLS%20TaskForce%20 Report%202014.pdf.
20 See legal services corporaTion, legal services corporaTion reporT of The pro Bono Task force 1-2 (2012) (providing that “at least 50% of people seeking help from LSC-funded organizations—and eligible to receive it—are turned away because of insufficient resources”), available at http://www.lsc.gov/sites/default/files/LSC/lscgov4/ PBTF_%20Report_FINAL.pdf.
21 Id. at 2 (stating that “studies have found that 80% of the civil legal needs of low-income people go unmet”).
22 world JusTice proJecT, world JusTice proJecT rule of law index 2015 30, available at http://worldjusticeproject. org/sites/default/files/roli_2015_0.pdf; Roderic B. Mathews & Juan Carlos Botero, Access to Justice in the United States: Findings from the Newly Released Rule of Law Index of the World Justice Project, 59 va. law. 24 (2010), available at http://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/486481access_to_justice_in_the_united_states_ virginia_lawyer_12-10.pdf.
23 Lisa Mahapatra, United States Justice System Falls Behind That of Other High-Income Nations, The inTernaTional Business Times (Mar. 7, 2014), http://www.ibtimes.com/united-states-justice-system-falls-behind-other-high-income- nations-charts-1560167.
24 Don Froomkin, Rule of Law Index: U.S. Ranks Low in Access to Justice Compared to Other Wealthy Nations, The huffingTon posT (nov. 28, 2012, 8:56 AM), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/28/rule-of-law-index- 2012_n_2200765.html.
The Challenge of Economic Inequality
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