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A Language Access Planning Tool for Courts
December 19th, 2012 Posted by

The following post appears courtesy of the Civil Rights Division.

The Civil Rights Division is tasked with enforcement of some of the most important laws enacted by Congress, which aim to fulfill our nation’s promise of equal opportunity and equal justice under the law.  In enforcing these laws, our goal is to be not simply the nation’s civil rights litigator, but also the nation’s civil rights problem-solver.

Among the ways that we can help solve problems is through technical assistance tools that encourage and facilitate voluntary compliance with civil rights requirements.  One such requirement – a requirement that will remain a continuing focus for the Civil Rights Division – is the obligation that state and local court systems provide meaningful access to all of their operations regardless of language ability.  For tens of millions of limited English proficient (LEP) individuals in our nation who may need to interact with state courts, the absence of effective court services and policies can make communication difficult or impossible.  Comprehensive language access programs are therefore a critical undertaking for states that want to ensure meaningful access to LEP individuals, comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and increase public confidence in the justice system while also improving judicial outcomes.

With these interests in mind, the Department of Justice is committed to providing technical assistance tools that will help courts develop – short of formal enforcement efforts – the kinds of programs that provide meaningful access to court operations regardless of language ability.  The Division’s Federal Coordination & Compliance Section has developed a draft Language Access Planning Technical Assistance Tool for Courts.  This tool is based on our experience working with state court systems around the country for more than a decade, and is designed to assist individuals involved in planning and implementing measures to improve access to court proceedings and operations for LEP parties, witnesses and other participants.  The draft tool highlights the importance of assessment and planning and identifies questions for state judges and court staff to consider as they identify challenges and opportunities for improvement. 

We developed this tool in order to respond to the many requests for technical assistance from courts and interested stakeholders.  It draws upon years of experience working with and hearing from courts, attorneys, LEP individuals, advocates and others.  Courts can use this tool to identify those areas that are already well-covered, as well as those that may require more long-term planning and implementation to accomplish. 

We welcome your feedback on this draft technical assistance tool.  Please send your comments and feedback to lep@usdoj.gov and make sure to include “Feedback on LEP Self-Assessment for Courts” in the subject line.  All comments must be submitted by Feb. 15, 2013.

The Civil Rights Division has also prepared additional other technical assistance tools regarding state court language access, accessible online in the State Courts section of the Resources by Subject page of www.LEP.gov.

Helping the Victims of Human Trafficking
September 26th, 2012 Posted by

The following post appears courtesy of Mary Lou Leary, the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs

In March of this year President Obama directed his Cabinet to redouble efforts to eliminate human trafficking—or modern-day slavery—which afflicts more than 20 million people around the world, including in communities here at home.  Yesterday, building on the strong record of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and its member agencies, the President announced several initiatives to improve services and legal assistance for victims of human trafficking.

At the Justice Department we coordinate with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to investigate and prosecute human traffickers. We also provide comprehensive assistance to victims. As President Obama announces his important new directives, I am pleased to reflect on the fact that the Office of Justice Program’s (OJP) Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) has funded victim service organizations to support the needs of trafficking victims since 2003.  Those needs may include shelter, sustenance, medical and dental care, mental health treatment, interpretation services, legal and immigration services, literacy education, and more.

Today OVC is announcing two new initiatives and awarding additional trafficking grants that focus on the goal of extending critically needed legal assistance to ensure access to justice for victims of this heinous crime.

The Legal Assistance Capacity Building Initiative will strengthen crime victims’ access to legal help. OVC will work with organizations throughout the country to identify, train, mentor and provide oversight of attorneys who volunteer to provide pro bono legal assistance, including immigration assistance, to crime victims.

With the Wrap-Around Victim Legal Assistance Network Demonstration Projects, OVC has awarded competitive grant funding to six jurisdictions of various sizes to develop collaborative models that can be replicated in communities around the country. Each site will address the wide-range of legal needs that arise for all victims in connection with their victimization, including immigration assistance for human trafficking victims. The sites cover the states of Alaska and Minnesota; city and county of Los Angeles and Long Beach; 72 counties in Texas; Cook County, Illinois; and the city and county of Denver.     

OVC has awarded seven new grants to organizations to provide either “Comprehensive Services” or “Specialized Services” in its Services for Trafficking Victims Grant Program. Under the Comprehensive Service Model, the grantees will give trafficking victims access to a range of services, including shelter, victim advocacy, case management, and medical and mental health care. These Comprehensive Service model grantees in Arizona, Hawaii, Oregon and New Jersey must also lead trafficking victims who are immigrants to legal help applying for T visas and U visas and adjustments to their status. The “Specialized” model grantees provide either legal or mental health services for all victims of both sex and labor trafficking in Colorado and New York.

I am proud of the department’s efforts to support the victims of this terrible crime, which dehumanizes and traumatizes its victims and is often hidden in plain sight in communities across this nation.

A Message from the Attorney General on Constitution Day
September 17th, 2012 Posted by

The following post appears courtesy of Attorney General Eric Holder.

In the summer of 1787, delegates from every corner of our new country – united by common purpose and an unrelenting resolve – gathered in Philadelphia to draft a legal document that would establish the framework for a revolutionary system of government.  After four short months of wide-ranging discussion, fierce debate, and hard-fought compromise – 225 years ago today – they signed the United States Constitution, setting the great American experiment in motion and codifying our nation’s most enduring ideals: of security, opportunity, liberty, and justice.

Since that moment, these fundamental values have remained our country’s greatest assets.  They have inspired generations of Americans to aim higher, to dream bigger, and to advance the ongoing work of building a more perfect Union.  They have established our nation as a shining example of strength – and a beacon of justice and hope – for all the world.  And even – or perhaps especially – today, in the face of global challenges and evolving threats that would have been inconceivable to those who drafted our Constitution, this extraordinary document continues to serve not only as a touchstone for our history, but a guidepost for our future progress.

As President Obama reminded us in 2009 – in a speech at the National Archives, just steps from the Constitution itself – our founding document “has endured through secession and civil rights, through World War and Cold War, because it provides a foundation of principles that can be applied pragmatically – it provides a compass that can help us find our way.”

Over the years, this steadfast compass has driven us to amend and improve upon our Constitution in an effort to expand the meaning of liberty and to guarantee America’s promise of limitless possibility for every citizen – regardless of race, gender, or creed.  It has driven more than two centuries of remarkable, once-unimaginable progress in the long and ongoing struggle for equal rights, equal opportunity, and equal justice for all.  And today, as we continue – with fidelity to both the letter and spirit of this extraordinary document – to realize the full promise of our great nation in the life of every citizen, it’s clear that – despite the strides that have been made over the last 225 years – we have more to do, and further to travel.

As Attorney General, and as a lifelong public servant, advancing this work remains my top priority and solemn obligation.  I’m proud to report that the Justice Department’s commitment to affirming and defending our Constitution – and to aggressively and fairly enforcing our laws – has never been stronger.  And our approach in protecting the American people from national security threats, reducing and preventing violent crime, eradicating financial and health care fraud, overcoming persistent disparities, enforcing essential civil rights protections, and safeguarding the most vulnerable among us has, quite simply, never been more effective.

In particular, through the Department’s Access to Justice Initiative, we are helping to fulfill the promise of equal justice under law by working to ensure that our justice system can efficiently deliver outcomes that are fair and accessible to all, irrespective of wealth or status.  Today, in the interest of building on this important work – and in honor of Constitution Day – the Justice Department will be hosting a lecture for employees, presented by Dean Phoebe Haddon from the University of Maryland School of Law, that will focus on equal access to justice in the 21st century, and explore new methods for eliminating barriers that prevent people from exercising their fundamental rights.

As we take new ownership of this work – and as we pause, on this annual observance, to reflect upon the sacred, uniquely American values that inspired the document we ratified exactly 225 years ago – let us also recommit ourselves to their faithful implementation.  Let us rededicate ourselves to the work of advancing America’s ongoing pursuit of a more perfect Union.  And let us seize this opportunity to reaffirm our determination to build a future rooted in freedom, opportunity, and justice for all.

Addressing Juvenile Justice Concerns in Response to the Shelby County Investigation
August 8th, 2012 Posted by

The following post appears courtesy of the Civil Rights Division and the Access to Justice Initiative.

Recently, a group of advocates, practitioners, and researchers specializing in juvenile justice issues gathered at the Department of Justice with representatives from the Department’s Civil Rights Division and Access to Justice Initiative (ATJ) for a Juvenile Justice Roundtable discussion. 

The meeting was convened to elicit thoughts about potential remedies to the problems relating to the violation of juvenile offenders’ constitutional rights that plague the juvenile justice system.  Many of these problems were cited in the department’s findings released earlier this spring in its investigation of the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee. 

This investigation marks the first time that the department exercised its authority under 42 U.S.C. § 14141 to take measures to safeguard the constitutional rights of juvenile offenders.  Specifically, the law makes it illegal for government actors involved in the administration of juvenile justice to deprive juveniles of their constitutional rights and protections, and allows the attorney general to take legal action to eliminate such behavior when there is reasonable cause to suspect that a violation has occurred.

The department’s investigation of the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County spanned a roughly two-year period beginning in August 2009, triggered by concerns of local residents and officials regarding the administration of due process and equal protection rights of children in the system.  With the cooperation of the juvenile court, the department reviewed case data from a five-year period, in the process uncovering three categories of constitutional violations:  lack of due process, unequal treatment across racial groups, and harsh conditions of confinement.

Lack of due process existed in many forms.  For example, the department found that children often received notice of the charges being levied against them shortly before their hearing, which left the children without the ability to meaningfully prepare to respond to the charges.   Investigators also found that, over a four-year period, the court detained 815 children for longer than three days before granting them a probable cause hearing. 

In another instance, a Magistrate Judge did not allow witnesses to testify on behalf of a juvenile defendant before transferring her case to the adult system, even though the witnesses were present and willing to do so.  The investigation further revealed that some juvenile defenders (the equivalent of public defenders for the juvenile system) failed to be competent and zealous advocates for their clients and that juvenile court staff do not adequately protect children from self-incrimination.

In terms of equal protection, the department found statistically significant racial disparities in the treatment of children, with African American children disproportionately represented in most phases of the Shelby County juvenile justice system.  For instance, statistical analysis revealed that black children were significantly less likely to receive the benefit of more lenient options, such as a warning, than were their white peers.  Black children also were found less likely to receive warnings before being subjected to punishment, more likely to be detained prior to attending a probable cause hearing, and more likely to have their cases recommended for transfer to the adult system.  These disparities, which indicate a violation of the children’s equal protection rights, existed even after factoring in legal and social variables, such as a child’s prior record, age, gender, and school attendance, among other things. 

With respect to confinement conditions, the department found that Juvenile Court staff sometimes placed children in “restraint chairs” without supervision for long periods of time, in violation of the Shelby County facility’s own policy.  When strapped into restraint chairs, children are unable to move their arms or legs.  One child, for example, was detained in the chair in isolation for nearly two hours, well in excess of the maximum 20 minutes that facility policy allows.  Other children in the facility were subjected to pressure point control tactics, a method that uses pain compliance and joint manipulation, such as bending a child’s wrist backwards, in order to force the child to cooperate.

In response to these findings, ATJ worked alongside the Civil Rights Division to assemble a group of leaders in the field of juvenile justice to attend a roundtable discussion on potential remedies.  Among the more than 20 groups participating in the discussion were the Campaign for Youth Justice, the Children’s Center for Law and Policy, the Juvenile Law Center, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and the National Juvenile Defender Center.

Focusing on the areas of due process and equal protection, the attendees drew on their expertise in devising several suggestions for ways in which the department might move forward in encouraging and implementing reform in the juvenile justice system.  The department looks forward to continued collaboration with these stakeholders as it strives to build a juvenile justice system that embodies the constitutional values of fairness and justice.

For more information on the Department’s findings, see the April 26, 2012 remarks of Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas Perez and the official Shelby County Investigation Report.

For more information on the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, please visit www.justice.gov/crt. | Learn more about the Access to Justice Initiative, visit www.justice.gov/atj.

Balancing the Scales Amid Foreclosure Crisis
July 23rd, 2012 Posted by

 The following post appears courtesy of the Access to Justice Initiative.

On February 9, 2012, the Justice Department announced that the federal government and 49 state attorneys general reached a $25 billion agreement with the five largest mortgage servicers in America, to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses.  While the majority of the settlement funds will go to various forms of relief provided directly to borrowers, $2.5 billion may be used by state governments to fund foreclosure prevention services including housing counselors, legal aid and other similar public programs as determined by the state attorneys general.

These funds may also be used to compensate states for losses resulting from the alleged unlawful conduct of the mortgage servicers, which might include forgone state and local tax revenues, and increased costs for police, maintenance and other services required to deal with the impact on neighborhoods of abandoned properties.

The Department of Justice’s Access to Justice Initiative (ATJ), has been working with foreclosure mediation program and court administrators, researchers, advocates, and representatives from government agencies and the lending community to support mediation and legal services to stem the foreclosure tide.

This spring, ATJ, along with representatives from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing Counseling Program, briefed state attorney general offices on the value of foreclosure mediation programs, where a neutral third-party (often, but not necessarily employed by a court) helps facilitate negotiations between a lender and homeowner as they attempt to reach agreement, as well as legal assistance and housing counseling that can help avoid preventable foreclosures and assist homeowners affected by mortgage default to understand their options to regain their housing and financial stability. 

Since the date of the settlement, a number of states have made plans to use a portion of the settlement funds to implement funding initiatives geared toward increasing support for services that assist homeowners at risk of foreclosure. 

Attorney General Lisa Madigan of Illinois and Attorney General Bill Schuette of Michigan have both announced plans to allocate settlement funds to state foreclosure prevention programs, including legal assistance.  Attorney General Madigan, at an April forum on the “State of Legal Assistance” co-sponsored by the White House and the Legal Services Corporation, said:

 “[W]e need to give homeowners a fighting chance to save their homes from foreclosure. The best way we can help is by providing distressed borrowers with legal representation to ensure they have an advocate to fight for them in the courtroom and that they will be treated fairly in the process.” 

Illinois is dedicating at least $20 million in funding from the settlement to legal counseling programs that help borrowers who are currently underwater or facing foreclosure.  In Michigan, Attorney General Schuette is backing legislation that would direct $20 million in funds from the settlement to foreclosure counseling and legal aid services for homeowners. 

These states are not alone. Attorney General Roy Cooper of North Carolina has committed over $30 million to provide housing counselors and legal services to distressed homeowners. Attorney General Dustin McDaniels of Arkansas plans to direct $3 million of the settlement funds to the Arkansas’ Access to Justice Commission, and to two University of Arkansas law school clinics that provide legal aid and assistance to low-income residents.

“Maryland has led the nation in its swift response to the foreclosure crisis,” said Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. In May, Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler and Governor O’Malley announced that $14.8 million from the settlement will be used for both housing counseling and legal aid assistance programs. “This plan sticks to the spirit and the letter of the settlement by using these resources to help the Marylanders most affected by the housing crisis. As a result, all Marylanders will benefit,” said Gansler. And Attorney General Martha Coakley of Massachusetts created a new program, HomeCorps, funded by settlement funds. HomeCorps will provide direct legal representation to distressed borrowers through local civil legal aid attorneys.

Attorney Generals in Alabama, California, Colorado, Indiana, and Tennessee have also announced plans to use settlement dollars to fund programs for low and moderate income residents that include counseling support, legal services, and hotline support referral services.

The foreclosure settlement is providing much-needed relief to homeowners across the nation.  ATJ seeks to continue to promote state efforts to use discretionary funds to further the goals of the settlement by providing support for services that are critical to helping keep homeowners at risk of foreclosure in their homes.

POSTED IN: Access to Justice  |  PERMALINK
Access to Justice Releases the Guide to the AmeriCorps VISTA Program for Legal Services Organizations
July 6th, 2012 Posted by

For over 47 years the federal Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program has been a vital resource in the fight against poverty in the United States. Although in the early years many lawyers launched their public service careers as VISTA members, more recent history reveals that AmeriCorps VISTA has been under-used by the legal services community.  That’s why the U.S. Department of Justice Access to Justice Initiative, in partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service, has released a Guide to the AmeriCorps VISTA Program for Legal Services Organizations.

The Guide is designed to

  • introduce the VISTA program to legal services organizations that are not familiar with it;
  • demonstrate how the VISTA program can work effectively in the context of legal services; and
  • provide additional resources for organizations that are interested in sponsoring a VISTA project at their site. Thanks to contributions by 10 current or recent VISTA legal services program sponsors, the Appendix contains more than two dozen sample project descriptions to illustrate the range of ways VISTA members can benefit a legal aid program. 

Legal services organizations have used VISTA members in a wide variety of projects that meet the priorities and requirements of the VISTA program and the needs of legal services providers and their clients. Although VISTAs cannot represent clients themselves, through conducting common duties such as volunteer recruitment, developing new technology or resources, conducting outreach, building partnerships, and fundraising, VISTA members can expand an organization’s ability to provide the community with legal services or information.

Some examples of VISTA projects described more fully in the Guide include:

  •  At the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, VISTA members recruited, coordinated, trained and supported volunteer attorneys and interpreters for a program to assist immigrant victims of domestic violence applying for U.S. citizenship under the Violence Against Women Act and a legal hotline for people denied public benefits. In one two-year period the VISTAs recruited almost 250 volunteer attorneys who contributed 10,000 hours of legal services annually and served more than 1,100 clients.
  • Minnesota Legal Services used their VISTA members to update and enhance a statewide legal help website, www.LawHelpMN.org, adding hundreds of additional resources to the site including a “LiveHelp” chat navigational assistance tool and Somali and Spanish language versions of the website.
  • Prairie State Legal Services VISTA members created a mortgage foreclosure helpdesk at an Illinois county courthouse that has provided legal information to more than 1,500 people.
  • A Montana Legal Services Association VISTA conducted a legal needs survey in Montana.
  • Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago and Prairie State Legal Services all used VISTA members to launch and coordinate medical-legal partnerships with local hospitals and community health clinics.
  • The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota used VISTAs to help with grant writing and prospecting. 

View the Guide to the AmeriCorps VISTA Program for Legal Services Organizations.

To learn more about the Access to Justice Initiative, visit www.justice.gov/atj. To learn more about the Corporation for National and Community Service AmeriCorps programs, visit http://www.nationalservice.gov/.

POSTED IN: Access to Justice  |  PERMALINK
 
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