Legal Services for the Poor - New Jersey, Wisconsin
April 29th, 2011
| Categories: Law and Corrections, Poverty
| Tags: Legal aid, New Jersey, Wisconsin
- Report: Fewer NJ residents in poverty getting legal aid, By Susan Loyer, April 26, 2011, MyCentralJersey.com: “Fewer low-income residents are receiving the legal representation they are entitled to receive in civil cases, according to a report released by Legal Services of New Jersey. ‘The Civil Justice Gap,’ released Tuesday, examines the shortfalls in legal aid for New Jerseyans living in poverty, its consequences and offers solutions. ‘There are many more people in poverty because of the recession,’ said Melville D. Miller Jr., president of Legal Services of New Jersey. ‘The newly poor, who lost jobs and were middle class, are dealing for the first time with things like foreclosures, evictions and domestic violence, all of which is induced by the new poverty. As a result, the demand for our services is up sharply.’ With a 20 percent to 45 percent increase in the demand for free legal services statewide and funding down by 35 percent during the past few years, Legal Services i forced to turn people away, Miller said…”
- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s budget plan cuts legal services for poor, By Paul Srubas, April 25, 2011, Green Bay Press-Gazette: “A proposed funding cut to the state’s computerized court records system is part of a larger plan that would eliminate funding of a program that provides free legal aid to the poor. Gov. Scott Walker has proposed reallocating money collected as a fee when certain documents are filed in circuit courts around the state. The $21.50 filing fee currently pays for a variety of state programs. Under law, the amount is divided up, with each portion going to a specific program, such as $6 of every $21.50 going to the Consolidated Court Automation Program. The program, called CCAP, serves as the information technology department for the court systems throughout the state and makes court records available online through the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access database. A program providing civil legal services for the poor receives $4 from each $21.50 fee…”
