The Civil Legal Needs and Experiences of Rural Sexual Assault Survivors

Veterans often need civil legal services, yet little is known about veterans’ use and consequences of these services. This study examined veterans seeking legal services at VA-housed legal clinics. Baseline data from 61 clients of two VA-housed legal clinics were used to identify clients’ legal needs and psychosocial characteristics. Data collected from 49 (80%) of the same clients two months later were used to address clients’ improvement and satisfaction after receiving legal services. At baseline, clients reported a mean of 6.0 (SD = 4.2) legal needs, with the most common being help obtaining VA benefits (87%). Clients represented a vulnerable population in that most had an extensive criminal history (e.g., had been arrested, charged, and incarcerated) and multiple health care needs (had a chronic medical condition, had recently received treatment in an emergency department, and had received psychological treatment due to significant psychological symptoms). At follow-up, clients reported a mean of 4.4 (SD = 3.8) legal needs. Tests to identify changes between baseline and follow-up on legal needs, housing arrangement, psychological symptoms, and substance use yielded few significant results. Most participants did not receive additional help with their legal matters after the baseline appointment. At follow-up, clients reported that few of their legal needs were met but also that they were mostly satisfied with the legal services they received. Findings suggest that because clients may need more intensive legal intervention of longer duration to resolve their legal needs and achieve better housing and health status, VA-housed legal clinics require greater resources and expansion.

In the United States and elsewhere, civil legal services are an overlooked strategy in the response to sexual assault. Contrary to the criminal legal system, civil legal remedies can offer supports that are specific to survivors’ immediate needs in the aftermath of sexual assault. To learn more about this legal strategy, we explored three areas: 1) civil legal needs of survivors; 2) barriers to seeking civil legal services; and 3) what survivor-defined justice might look like. In-depth interviews were conducted with 24 civil legal attorneys who work with survivors of sexual assault in the US. Results indicate that survivors have a multitude of overlapping legal needs outside of the criminal legal system, especially related to increasing agency, safety, and stability in their lives. Yet, several barriers exist that prevent access to these legal remedies. Despite these barriers, attorneys outlined how survivors’ lives have been positively affected by the services they offer. Attorneys also spoke to what “survivor-defined justice” might look like for their clients in this context. The results support the need to expand our conceptualization of justice beyond what the criminal legal system can offer. Implications for advancing civil remedies as a survivor-centered legal strategy are discussed.

Abstract: Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) provide comprehensive services to survivors of community violence to address social determinants of health (SDOH) as risks factors for future violence. Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) integrate lawyers into health care teams to address SDOH through the application of the law. Despite shared purposes, it is unknown if HVIP-MLPs exist. We sought to quantify the existing landscape of legal services provided by HVIPs, identify HVIP-MLPs, and characterize barriers to formation. Surveys and interviews were conducted in 2020 with 35 HVIPs of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI) concerning civil legal services. Most HVIPs screened for civil legal needs though none had an official MLP. Common civil legal needs included housing, mental health, and education. Barriers included no memorandum of understanding, legal confusion, funding, and overwhelming need. In 2021, no HVIP-MLP partnerships existed within HAVI. Establishing HVIP-MLPs may further support survivors of violence and address health inequity.

Crime victims often experience a host of negative consequences. In relation to these consequences, crime victims may also find themselves in need of assistance from the criminal justice system and civil legal service providers. Despite this need, crime victims often lack access to civil legal services. One way to potentially improve the availability and accessibility of civil legal services for crime victims is to increase the provision and availability of pro bono services; however, the way that attorneys perceive pro bono service for crime victims may be an impediment to service provision. Despite this, little is known about how private attorneys view pro bono work with crime victims. We examine how private attorneys view pro bono work with crime victims, the barriers to this service and what may incentivize them to engage in this work by utilizing data from a project assessing the civil legal needs of crime victims in the state of Georgia (USA). We find that a relatively small proportion of private attorneys in Georgia engage in pro bono work with crime victims. Barriers and incentives to pro bono service engagement and implications are discussed.

Integrated Legal Services: Lessons from West Heidelberg CLS

Access Across America: First Report of the Civil Justice Infrastructure Mapping Project

Legal services organizations funded in part by federal grants have provided a national safety net of civil legal assistance for the poor since the 1970s. In this chapter, Joy Radice explains how legal service offices are structured and funded, who is eligible for their free legal assistance, and how local legal services organizations triage their resources and stretch their shrinking federal dollars to reach as many eligible people as possible. The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is the largest source of funding for civil legal services in the country. Its grantees include 799 field offices and over 4,000 attorneys nationwide. In 2013, LSC, which is funded by Congressional appropriations, provided its grantees $342,778,665. The LSC offices in turn closed over 758,689 cases involving three basic types of legal assistance defined by the LSC's regulations: legal advice and counsel (60% of closed cases in 2013), brief services (16% of closed cases), and extended legal services (25% of closed cases). This chapter examines how this network of programs is structured, who qualifies for LSC-supported legal services, and what type of assistance is provided. Over the past two decades, Congressional funding has declined dramatically, while the number of Americans who financially qualify for LSC assistance has increased to about 65 million according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. LSC CLIENT DEMOGRAPHICS LSC grantees serve clients in all 50 states and every U.S. territory – from dense metropolitan areas to rural counties where lawyers might have to travel for hours to visit clients. LSC clients are farmers, tenants, parents, students, and veterans. The majority of clients, 70%, are women, while 15% are seniors over 60, and only 2% are children. LSC clients are also diverse racially and ethnically (see Table 15.1). ELIGIBILITY FOR LSC-FUNDED SERVICES To be eligible for LSC-funded civil legal services, an applicant's pre-tax income must fall at or below 125% of the federal poverty guidelines and, as Table 15.2 shows, that number is keyed to the size of a person's household. Federal regulations require LSC to establish maximum income levels for eligible households based on the federal poverty guidelines published by the Department of Health and Human Resources (DHS).

Domestic violence can have a negative effect on multiple areas of a woman's life. While much focus has been on criminal legal interventions for domestic violence, civil legal services can provide a unique constellation of responses to the needs of women who experience domestic violence, which may be unfamiliar to many social workers. Civil legal services can greatly improve a woman's circumstances when targeting material needs such as housing, employment, and economic conditions. This article describes the differences in focus and impact of criminal and civil legal interventions for domestic violence, provides an in-depth illustration of how civil legal services can address a myriad of needs for women who experience domestic violence, and addresses the role social workers can play in assisting clients in the civil legal process.

College Sexual Assault: A Call for Trauma-Informed Prevention

Many formerly incarcerated people have civil legal needs that can imperil their successful re-entry to society and, consequently, their health. We categorize these needs and assess their association with cardiovascular disease risk factors in a sample of recently released people. We find that having legal needs related to debt, public benefits, housing, or healthcare access is associated with psychosocial stress, but not uncontrolled high blood pressure or high cholesterol, in the first three months after release.

To examine civil legal needs among people experiencing homelessness and the extent to which medical-legal partnerships exist in homeless service sites, which promote the integration of civil legal aid professionals into health care settings. We surveyed a national sample of 48 homeless service sites across 26 states in November 2015. The survey asked about needs, attitudes, and practices related to civil legal issues, including medical-legal partnerships. More than 90% of the homeless service sites reported that their patients experienced at least 1 civil legal issue, particularly around housing, employment, health insurance, and disability benefits. However, only half of all sites reported screening patients for civil legal issues, and only 10% had a medical-legal partnership. The large majority of sites reported interest in receiving training on screening for civil legal issues and developing medical-legal partnerships. There is great need and potential to deploy civil legal services in health settings to serve unstably housed populations. Training homeless service providers how to screen for civil legal issues and how to develop medical-legal partnerships would better equip them to provide comprehensive care.

The ABCs of caring for sexual assault patients

We examined the economic status of women who experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) and sought civil legal aid services over 1 year. Women's average overall income increased, after accounting for both private income increases and public income decreases, by approximately $5500, and the odds of being in poverty 1 year after civil legal services decreased. The social return on investment estimate for total income impact relative to legal aid costs was 141%, meaning that women's overall income increased $2.41 for every $1 expended on legal aid services. Legal aid services can improve income and reduce poverty among women experiencing IPV.

To address the unmet legal needs for low-income litigants in the United States, some states are turning to Judicare programs. This article discusses Maryland’s pilot Judicare program where services to low-income litigants are provided by private attorneys who are paid on a reduced fee-for-service basis. Using a distributive justice framework, this mixed methods study assessed the effectiveness of Judicare through a process and outcome evaluation. Findings suggest that Judicare is effective in providing civil legal services to low-income litigants. The pilot program was successful in engaging attorneys from the private sector. Detailed findings for client and attorney experiences are presented.

Sexual assault affects as many as one-third of women around the world. Sexual assault includes individual traumatic events as well as chronic sexually abusive relationships, and can involve a partner, acquaintance, or stranger. Many women who have experienced sexual assault develop long-term mental and physical effects of their sexual trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol abuse, and dyspareunia. OBGYNs are able to have long-lasting impacts on the many survivors of sexual assault by screening effectively and providing compassionate, trauma-informed care. This review contains 10 figures and 33 references. Keywords: human trafficking, intimate partner violence, primary care, rape, sexual assault, sexual violence, trauma-informed care, women