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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 11:39 am
Time: 11:39 am
Results for lawyers
2 results foundAuthor: Paralegal Advisory Service Institute Title: Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems in Africa: Survey Report Summary: The aim of this survey is to provide a snapshot of access to legal aid in Africa. The purpose is to provide practitioners and policymakers with accurate and contemporary data to inform the development of legal aid strategies. The survey was conducted as part of the implementation of Economic and Social Council resolution 2007/24, entitled “International cooperation for the improvement of access to legal aid in criminal justice systems, particularly in Africa”. The laws governing legal aid recognize a lawyer-centred model. However, the numbers of practising lawyers in African countries are low in proportion to the overall population. Further, the large majority of these lawyers reside in urban areas, whereas the majority of the population live in rural or peri-urban areas. Thus, most people live outside of the reach of lawyers who can provide them with legal aid services. While the laws respect a right to legal aid, State budget allocations to legal aid are minimal in many countries. Access to legal aid is not available at all stages of the criminal justice process. It is particularly rare at police stations and is only sometimes available in prisons and in the lower courts. There is an absence of any national strategy to provide people with “primary justice” services in the same way as there is, for instance, to provide primary health-care services. A “patchwork” of non-State actors operating individually, or in some cases in networks, provides supplementary services. The consequences of this situation are several. On the “supply” side, the absence of a mechanism to push cases through the criminal justice system contributes to delays in the process and increasing case backlogs in the courts, as well as to high remand populations in prison. This contributes significantly to prison overcrowding, which is a problem in many African countries. On the “demand” side, the absence of affordable legal aid services increases poor people’s sense of social exclusion and powerlessness. Traditional dispute resolution mechanisms become, by default, the only option for most people, in particular in rural areas. Details: Vienna: UNODC, 2012. 82p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 3, 2012 at: http://www.ipjj.org/fileadmin/data/documents/reports_monitoring_evaluation/UNODC_AccessToLegalAidinAfricaSurveyReport_2011_EN.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Africa URL: http://www.ipjj.org/fileadmin/data/documents/reports_monitoring_evaluation/UNODC_AccessToLegalAidinAfricaSurveyReport_2011_EN.pdf Shelf Number: 125148 Keywords: Assistance to the PoorCourtsCriminal Justice Systems (Africa)LawyersLegal Aid |
Author: Fleming, Jennie Title: Use your situation to change your destination: Evaluation of The Howard League for Penal Reform's U R Boss Summary: The Howard League for Penal Reform was funded by the Big Lottery to run the U R Boss project from July 2009 to 2014. The aims of U R Boss were: - to enhance the Howard League's legal service; - to campaign to change national and local policy and practice; - to change public attitudes to children and young people in the penal system. U R Boss supported young people in custody and the community by: - building on the Howard League's legal service; - involving young people in campaigning for change on issues that affect young people in the criminal justice system. What did U R Boss do? U R Boss was groundbreaking in two ways. First, it aimed to work in a deep and detailed participatory way with young people in the criminal justice system, and second, it involved young people directly in campaigning work to change policy and practice. Legal work The Howard League legal service worked to protect children's rights and ensure they understood the legal system. - Until I had a Howard League solicitor no one explained what was what and wrote me letters I could understand. She explains what is happening - explains the options and what could happen with each one. - Young advisor in custody The legal team took over 1800 calls to the telephone helpline and solicitors worked on 617 new cases with young people. In one year alone they had a 78 per cent success rate for their clients in cases they took on. Young people and professionals said the legal service provided high levels of care for vulnerable and isolated young people. Regular solicitors would not want to know. You would not ring a regular solicitor and say "I am worried about this or this is going off", they would not be bothered to do something to help you. With the Howard League you can ring with anything and they take it serious. Young advisor in community U R Boss also ran public legal education to make sure professionals and young people knew about their rights in custody and when they were released. The project ran training and made guides using the knowledge and experience of both young people and the Howard League solicitors. The partnership between the legal and participation work was crucial to what U R Boss achieved. Solicitors got to know young people and build trust, leading to some becoming young advisors. Details: London: Howard League for Penal Reform, 2014. 94p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 21, 2015 at: http://www.howardleague.org/use_your_situation/ Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.howardleague.org/use_your_situation/ Shelf Number: 135326 Keywords: Juvenile Offenders (U.K.)LawyersLegal AidLegal Services |