NCJ Number
83096
Journal
Deviance et societe Volume: 4 Issue: 4 Dated: (1980) Pages: 371-398
Date Published
1977
Length
26 pages
Annotation
A three-article series constitutes a debate on the development of legal aid as an aspect of social services provided within the modern Western welfare state.
Abstract
Each contributor responds to the same issues concerning the problems of equal justice, the needs for assistance and legal aid, and the possible reasons for the existence of wide-ranging unmet legal needs. Opinion is also expressed on proposed reforms in the provision of legal aid -- the role of authorities within the system, the impacts of diverse interest groups, professional approaches to service delivery, and the involvement of additional resource groups. Among the unmet legal needs cited in the first opinion are consumer rights, administrative controls that do not subordinate justice to bureaucracy, and preventive intervention. For expanding service availability, it proposes intervention of the private sector through insurance companies and law shops. The second commentary points out that legal aid is designed to remedy economic and social inequities. Reform requires information to the public on legal aid availability and services planning. Alternative litigation procedures are needed; as is streamlining and simplifying of the judicial process and specified regulations for determining eligibility for legal aid to relieve judges of such decisions. The third contribution reiterates the class perspective, emphasizing that legal aid should function as a means of emancipating the working class in a system dominated by the capitalist bourgeoisie. The concluding article has three references.