Report Says U.S. Lags in Providing Access to Justice

A report surveying justice systems in 35 nations shows that America's system is woefully serving large segments of the society, especially the poor and middle class, as The Huffington Post's Dan Froomkin notes.

"The Rule of Law Index," released yesterday by the World Justice Project shows that "when it comes to access to and affordability of legal counsel in civil disputes, the U.S. ranks 20 out of the 35 nations surveyed, below not only developed nations but also such countries as Mexico, Croatia and the Dominican Republic," Froomkin writes. He notes that the survey reveals that "when it comes to providing access to justice to its citizens," the U.S. ranks lowest "among 11 developed nations when it comes to providing access to justice to its citizens - and lower than some third-world nations in some categories."

Froomkin continues:

As part of its fact-finding, the organization polled 1,000 people in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, and found a significant gap between the rich and the poor in terms of their use and satisfaction with the civil courts system.

More information about the Index and the project in general is available here.

Froomkin also noted that the Obama administration has worked to address gaping disparities among legal services that exist in various communities in part by creating the Access to Justice Initiative and selecting renowned constitutional scholar Laurence H. Tribe to lead it. At the 2010 ACS National Convention Tribe participated in a panel discussion regarding the government's role in improving legal services for the poor. Video of that panel discussion is available here. 

ACS has published several recent Issue Briefs studying the troubles besetting the nation's indigent defense system. Some of those reports include: "Restoring Access to Justice: The Impact of the Iqbal and Twombly on Federal Civil Rights Litigation," "Assessing the Indigent Defense System," "A Legislative Approach to Indigent Defense Reform," "Litigation Strategies for Dealing with the Indigent Defense Crisis," and "Overcoming Defiance of the Constitution: The Need for a Federal Role in Protecting the Right to Counsel in Georgia."