Page 14 - Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality

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Individuals who represent themselves are at a disadvantage when their adversaries are represented by counsel .25 The right to counsel in criminal cases is well established .26 However, in civil cases, we have yet to reckon with moving toward the right to counsel . 27 In fact, instead of progressing toward more civil legal services nationally, the Legal Services Corporation, the largest funder of civil legal services providers in the nation, received fewer funds over the last few years from the United States Congress .28 Low income people fare particularly poorly in a skewed civil justice system .
The majority of persons living in poverty will have to navigate the Justice system without legal assistance . The legal system was designed to be navigated by lawyers . Substantive and procedural rule of law is an unfamiliar and difficult arena for any untrained individual, but particularly difficult for many persons who are impoverished . Our system is grounded in legal terms and sophisticated concepts . Written documents memorialize agreements and judicial decisions and orders . These documents are written at high levels of literacy . While efforts are being made in many jurisdictions to put court forms in plain language, court systems have a long way to go to make forms and procedures understandable for a critical mass of unrepresented litigants . Only 13 percent of the adult population in the United States reads at the level of literacy needed to read and understand complex concepts .29 Some college students would have difficulty with most legal documents . Fifty percent of adults read at an eighth grade reading level and read so poorly they cannot perform simple tasks . Forty-five million people in the United States are functionally illiterate and read below fifth grade levels .30 Of individuals reading at the lowest proficiency level, 43 percent live in poverty .31 Twenty-five million individuals have limited English proficiency, which would prevent them from using the courts without an interpreter . Many individuals who have limited English proficiency are compelled to use the courts .32 Courts across the nation are failing in their legal obligation to provide free interpreter services .33 Many of these individuals had little exposure to literacy in the countries they come from .34 Impoverished persons are the most challenged litigants because of their inability to read and comprehend information .
25 andrew scherer, The imporTance of collaBoraTing To secure a civil righT To counsel (2005), available at https://www. nycourts.gov/ip/partnersinjustice/Right-to-Counsel-Collaboration.pdf.
26 Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963).
27 Turner v. Rogers, 131 S. Ct. 2507 (2011).
28 legal services corporaTion, annual lsc appropriaTions 1976-2013 in consTanT 2013 dollars, http://www.lsc.gov/ congress/funding/funding-history; naTional cenTer for sTaTe courTs, legal services corporaTion, http://www.ncsc. org/Services-and-Experts/Government-Relations/Access-to-Justice/Legal-Services-Corporation.aspx.
29 See naTional cenTer for educaTional sTaTisTics, naTional assessmenT of adulT liTeracy, https://nces.ed.gov/naal/kf_ demographics.asp#2 (providing that 13 percent of the American adult population “possess the skills necessary to perform complex and challenging literacy activities”).
30 Staggering Illiteracy Statistics, liTeracy proJecT foundaTion, http://literacyprojectfoundation.org/community/ statistics/ (last visited June 9, 2015).
31 Literacy Statistics, Begin To read, http://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.html (last visited June 9, 2015).
32 laura aBel, Brennan cTr. for JusTice, language access in sTaTe courTs (2009), available at http://www.brennancenter. org/sites/default/files/legacy/Justice/LanguageAccessinStateCourts.pdf.
33 Of 35 state court systems surveyed, “1. 46% fail[ed] to require that interpreters be provided in all civil cases, 2. 80% fail[ed] to guarantee that the courts will pay for the interpreters they provide, with the result that many people who need interpreters do not in fact receive them; and 3. 37% fail[ed] to require the use of credentialed interpreters, even when such interpreters are available.” Id. at 1.
34 vicky zygouris-coe, liTeracy for limiTed english proficiency (lep) sTudenTs (2001), available at https://education.ucf. edu/mirc/Research/Limited%20English%20Proficiency.pdf.
Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality