PUBLICATIONS
February 3, 2022
Poverty and Access to Justice
Poverty and Access to Justice
DATE
February 3, 2022
AUTHORS
Ireland Bellsmith, Olivia Goertzen, Kia Neilsen, Olivia Stinson
YEARS
2022
Poverty and Access to Justice
This report presents an overview of recent research and general information gathered from persuasive articles, publications, and research studies on the topic of poverty in Canada and its implications and influence on access to justice. By evaluating different areas of justice and legal proceedings, we seek to identify emerging themes in research and analyze effective practices and those that appear to fall short. Thus far, evident themes between poverty and access to justice include unsatisfactory victim experience, conditions leading to incarceration despite the availability of alternatives, lack of legal awareness within communities, and problematic disempowerment. While current practices and legislation have sought to address these obstacles inherent to the Canadian justice system, we suggest that the circumstances of poverty continue to impede equal access to justice in a number of ways and recommend that further research be conducted to evaluate best practices.
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