People of Modest Means Cannot Access Justice, Trapping Them in Poverty.

People of Modest Means Cannot Access Justice, Trapping Them in Poverty.

The United States is the only developed country in the world that doesn't guarantee access to legal representation in civil cases. Uniquely, we bifurcate legal issues into civil and criminal matters and only guarantee help in criminal ones. According to the World Justice Project, the US ranks 126th out of 139 surveyed countries in "access to civil justice" and 46th out of 46th high-income countries. California follows the national trends. It's estimated that there are only 800 legal aid attorneys in the state tasked with providing legal help to over 4 million qualifying individuals. According to the latest California "Justice Gap" report, about 2/3rds of low-income people who attempt to get legal aid will be turned away, and another 2/3rds won't even try to get help. And this essentially means that low-income residents are highly vulnerable to asset expropriation because they don't have enforceable property, contract, and family rights. Because of this, calculations using the Robin Hood social impact metrics have found that providing legal aid might be the most cost-effective way of reducing poverty. In other words, legal aid might generate more assets for beneficiaries per dollar spent than anything else, including education, health care, and financial counseling.