Rural legal scholarship: Rurality as intersectional factor in access-to-justice

Kathryne M. Young and Katie Billings published an article last week in the Utah Law Review, "An Intersectional Examination of U.S. Civil Justice Problems."  The abstract follows:   

Millions of Americans face civil justice problems each year, and most of these problems never make it to court, let alone to a legal expert. Although research has established that race and class are associated with a person's chance of experiencing a civil justice problem, detailed intersectional examinations of everyday people's justice experiences are largely absent. A more in-depth empirical understanding of the access to justice crisis can equip lawyers, policymakers, and other designers of justice interventions to create higher-impact, more efficient, and better-targeted programs to meet the justice needs of everyday people.

This Article fills a critical gap in the access to justice research. Using data from a representative sample of over 3,600 Americans, we conduct a granular analysis of the factors associated with the most common civil justice problems in the United States. We illuminate the scope of inequities in everyday legal experiences, point to key paths of legal and policy intervention, and show the importance of intersectional factors in understanding diverse needs for access to justice solutions.

In addition to investigating how gender, race, age, and class shape people's chances of facing a civil justice problem, we investigate several less-examined characteristics: queerness, disability, rurality, parental status, and experiences of trauma. These identities turn out to be significantly correlated with civil justice needs as well--independent from, and in addition to, race, class, and gender. We show that the kinds of civil justice problems vulnerable populations face are not always intuitive and often transcend people's status as members of a particular population.

We also use predicted probabilities to reveal enormous disparities in civil justice problems within groups that extant research has generally treated as monolithic--for example, showing that accounting for other identities and experiences can predict whether a low-income Black American has a 6% chance or a 45% chance of facing a family structure problem in the past year.

To shrink the U.S. civil justice gap, we need a more detailed picture of the landscape of civil justice problems experienced by everyday Americans. This Article provides that picture and is intended to serve as a springboard for access to justice policy reform.

And here is the part about the difference rurality makes as an intersectional factor.

Rural Americans are 43.6% more likely than non-rural dwellers to experience a family structure problem in the past year (p = .005). Previous work also shows that compared to suburbanites, rural Americans have the most subjectively serious justice problems and are less likely to resolve them. Differences in resolution rates are due partly to rural places' dearth of resources, such as legal aid clinics and public transportation. Additionally, cultural norms tied to rurality, such as self-efficacy, privacy, and a sense of dignity, may help explain the disparity. The top-cited reason low-income rural residents do not seek legal help for their justice problems is because they decide they prefer to deal with the problem on their own.

Beyond norms and values, the realities of rural spaces can render resources inaccessible. Imagine a rural resident without a car who must travel 50 miles to reach a legal aid clinic. Without public transportation, the trip may be impossible. Moreover, the intersection of location and other rural characteristics can exacerbate justice problem severity and decrease a person's chances of resolving a problem. Consider the intersection of rurality and poverty. Seventy-five percent of low-income rural households experienced a civil legal problem in the past year and 23% experienced six or more problems. Low-income rural residents receive either no professional legal help, or inadequate professional legal help, for 86% of their civil legal problems.

Because rurality increases people's likelihood of experiencing a civil justice problem and shapes their experience of the problem itself, researchers must further investigate the rural civil justice landscape and develop culturally appropriate resources. As Michele Statz adroitly notes about the rural access to justice crisis: “Not only are A2J ‘solutions' intrinsically insufficient in rural areas, but they compound existing stress and are even experienced as humiliating by many low-income rural residents.” We echo Statz's call to design justice initiatives that *531 acknowledge the structural realities of rural spaces, as well as the meanings and values that determine how rural residents define justice. Given the rural legal desert, rural areas may be well-suited for nonlawyer legal services--and given our results, family-related civil justice problems offer an important starting point.  (citations omitted)