Legal Empowerment Of The Poor

Gustafson, Kaaryn. "The Criminalization of Poverty." Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 99.3 (2009): 643-716. ProQuest. Web. 8 Oct. 2013

The importance of making a change to those living in poverty is shown through the use of

In the novel, Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson, it is extremely apparent that there is a link between poverty, wealth, injustice, and justice. This book incorporates a strong theme of poverty and how it relates to justice, as well as injustice. Furthermore, it very apparently works to explain and provide examples of problems within the justice system, and the urgency that these be corrected. One major problem being poverty in relation to obtaining justice. This being said, throughout my personal reading of the book, I have come to agree with Stevenson's statement, "the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice" (Stevenson 18).

More than ever people are losing access to justice. Even though the global economic crisis affected everyone, and every jurisdictions budget there needs to be a minimum level of funding for legal aid to protect the rights of those that cannot afford legal aid (Hainsworth, 2010). According to Hainsworth, (2010) the Canadian Bar Association has asked for national standards for legal aid, just like there are standards for health care and education. The CBA believes legal aid reform is needed to ensure access to justice for low income people, it also believes funding must be increased and national standards for eligibility and civil coverage are necessary to make the system function properly again.

In Bryan Stevenson’s novel, Just Mercy, it is extremely apparent that there is a link between poverty, wealth, injustice, and justice. This book incorporates a strong theme of poverty and how it relates to justice, as well as injustice. Furthermore, it works to explain and provide examples of problems within the justice system, and the urgency to correct these. This being said, throughout a personal reading of the book, one might come to agree with Stevenson's statement, "the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice" (Stevenson 18).

1) Conflict theory.- stress that the power elite uses the legal system to control worker and to stabilize the social order, all with the goal of keeping itself in power. The poor pose a threat, for if they rebel as a group they can dislodge members of the power elite from their place of privilege. To prevent this, the power elite makes certain that heavy penalties come down on those who’s crimes could upset the social order.

There needs to be a flexible set of requirements regarding just social welfare and other issues that are linked to the poverty and inequality that most, if not all societies face. We are currently in what seems a globalized economy, where a simple economic action from one place in the world can affect all other countries in one way or another. It is important that we concentrate and deliberate on what is needed for social justice, human rights and equity to work properly in regards to every society’s main concern. Although these three concepts are hard to exercise in a way that no more issues can emerge from them it is possible to adjust them to alleviate the conditions and diminish the damages caused by the lack of

Disability is of particular interest for justice because of the way in which it contrasts two basic and powerful senses of injustice: (1) the treatment of people as moral, social or political inferiors on the basis of irrelevant characteristics and (2) the perpetuation and/or failure to correct inequalities between income, wealth, health and other aspects of well-being amongst individuals. Article 13 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) guarantees access to justice. This article has two sections: first, “States Parties shall ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, including through the provision of procedural and age-appropriate accommodations, in order to facilitate their effective role as direct and indirect participants, including as witnesses, in all legal proceedings, including at investigative and other preliminary stages; and second, in order to help to ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities, States Parties shall promote appropriate training for those work” (United Nations, 2006, p. 11). Cremin (2016) provided insights on the parameters of article 13. He discussed how article 13 attempts to clarify what effective access to justice requires and also provides recommendations on how the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities can improve its guidance on access to justice to help ensure equal rights for persons with disabilities.

In the second edition of The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring about Social Change? By Gerald N. Rosenberg (2008) is a revised version of the first novel and includes new chapters and introduces the argument of same –sex marriages. Rosenberg develops his study by analyzing the verdicts of a state court of final authority in Hawaii, Vermont and Massachusetts; these countries ruled that the renunciation of marriage assistance for same-sex couples infringed their individual state constitution. Rosenberg examines the direct and indirect consequences of these decisions and provides counter arguments. Throughout the novel, Rosenberg argues the failure of litigation if the courts abstain from supporting social change, court judgments create a legislative counterattack or overturn the complete constitution amendment. The central theme of the novel is that courts are guarded in their capability to implement social policy. He also explores whether laws efficiently alter a boarder social beliefs, ethics and traditions in society. In order to support his thesis he provides cases studies. The first case is the United States determination to end racial segregation in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). The second case is Roe v. Wade (1973) and other cases where courts can produce major social reform in civil rights, abortion, women’s rights, the environment, reapportionment, criminal rights, and same-sex marriage. Thus, in order to understand Rosenberg’s novel this paper will focus on three

Access to justice should not merely involve the provision of basic legal services to a greater number of citizens, but should also enable access to a broad range of legal services. Even if a ‘Legicare’ system was to come to fruition, it would likely be deficient in providing access to highly specialised legal services. A clear analogy with the Medicare system, which provides a basic level of universal health care, can be drawn. Although Medicare covers essential services, it does not usually cover matters such as dentistry and physiotherapy, for example. As with private health insurance for medical care, pro bono services would still have a critical role to play in addressing such shortfalls. As the National Pro Bono Resource Centre articulates,

According to the National Center for Access to Justice (2015), a network of pro bono legal service providers representing the poor has arisen to address the need of justice gap, but more than half of those who seek help are turned away, as a result of unavailable adequate public funds and private donations. By reducing the pro bono law firms, legislators indirectly thrust the poor into lack access of finding qualified attorneys to represent themselves in bureaucratic proceedings. Rhode (2005) suggests that in order to maintain the fairness of American justice, we need to press reforms in political institutions, which has “deep ideological and structural roots” (p. 126). Those reforms include, but not limited to, the distribution of legal self-help materials, the procedures of resolving disputes without lawyers or court hearings, the expansion of pro bono services, and the adequate funding of legal-aid agencies (Rhode, 2005, p. 126-134). Even though our laws can policies can change over time, I believe Rhode’s suggestions on reforms may have some involved complications due to the lack of political actions, civil disobedience, and direct actions.

Social justice is a long debated subject that continues to prove controversial and divisive all over the world. Opinions on what constitutes social justice vary on a continuum from more conservative opinions which note individual responsibility to a more liberal stance which promotes a moral responsibility to support social equality (Mapp, 2008). Despite the varying opinions of what establishes social justice, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) serves as the first step in promoting social justice by outlining the basic rights that should be afforded to humanity (United Nations, n.d.). More specifically, Article 22 of the UDHR states that all people should have access to social security protection that works to provide essential needs, provisions for preserving dignity, and freedom to pursue personal interest (United Nations, n.d.). In spite of the established declaration, social justice remains unavailable for too many people. Worldwide, the lack of social protection leads to 1.4 billion people struggling to meet their essential needs due to lack of access to resources which promote a decent standard of living. Another 100 million fall into poverty due to unforeseen complications (GIPSPSI, 2011). Therefore, there is a crucial need to recognize social protection as a human right in order to guarantee equal access to basic services and equal opportunity to all of humankind.

Many describe poverty as an economic deprivation, or lack of income. However, this alone does not incorporate the different social, cultural and political aspects of this unfortunate reality. Poverty is not only a deprivation of economic or material resources but a violation of human dignity. The general scarcity, lack, or the state of one without a specific amount of material possessions or money. It is a versatile concept that may be defined as either absolute or relative. Time and again, poverty is a call to action, for the poor and the wealthy alike, it is a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities.

When we attack poverty on many levels, bringing together aid and education, community and economic development, and bringing empowerment to individuals, women and children, then we can begin to see real change in the communities and society. However, society is strutted in such a way that not all

Judicial Activism has opened up new dimensions for the judicial process and in the administration of justice and has given a hope of the justice to the million starving people. The Fundamentals Rights enshrined in the Constitution have no meaning for the large masses of people who are leading a life a poverty and destitution, unless a socio-economic structure in which these rights become meaningful for them is created. The concept of Public Interest Litigation intended to bring justice within the reach of poor masses and to people who are not in a position to have access to Courts. It was initiated for the benefit of a class of people, who had been denied their constitutional and legal rights as they could not have access to the Courts on account of their socio-economic disabilities. Public Interest Litigation or PIL is understood and treated as the citizens’ invocation and the use of the delivery of legal services in aid of and as a tool of administration of justice.