Despite a right to counsel in both Kenya and Tunisia, the default for low- and middle-income individuals who cannot afford to pay for legal representation is no counsel at all. The A2J Lab began a project to study the effects of early access to counsel for misdemeanors in the two countries but was thwarted in January by a federal stop work order. What follows is an update on the project itself and the educational moment it provided.
A typical cycle for someone caught in the U.S. criminal justice system due to poverty-related issues may look something like this: Risky behavior on the individual’s part leading to arrest for a low-level crime such as shoplifting, followed by court-appointed community service. Repeat. An A2J Lab study aims to find out whether a community diversion program offers a better chance of breaking this cycle than community service programs.
Conducting randomized control trials in the law can be a decade-long (or longer) process. Our “Child Welfare” project evaluates whether families with children who face poverty-related legal and social challenges can avoid unnecessary entries into the child welfare system with the assistance of holistic legal services – a combination of social worker services and a traditional attorney-client relationship. The study is five years in the making and still just half-way through completion, but we’re sharing its origin and process anyway.
