Poor Justice ─ How the Poor Fare in the Courts

Poor Justice: How the Poor Fare in the Courts provides a vivid and informative account of what happens when the legal system decides cases in areas crucial to the poor's economic and social well-being, including government benefits, child welfare, homelessness, the mental health system, education, and the criminal justice system. Drawing from court room observations, court decisions and supplementary legal and case materials, this book spans the street level justice of administrative hearings and lower courts (where people plead for welfare benefits or for a child not to be taken away), the mid-level justice of state courts (where advocates argue for the right to shelter for the homeless and for the rights of the mentally disabled), and the high justice of the Supreme Court (where the battle for school integration has represented a route out of poverty). Poor Justice brings readers inside the courts, telling the story through the words and actions of the judges, lawyers, and ordinary people who populate it. It seeks to both edify and criticize. Readers will learn not only how courts work, but also how courts sometimes help, but often fail, the poor.

Vicki Lens, PhD, JD, is currently an associate professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work. Prior to earning her PhD in social welfare, Dr. Lens worked as a public interest lawyer, specializing in providing legal services to the poor in the area of public benefits. As Assistant Attorney General, she established the Suffolk County Public Advocacy Unit, responsible for prosecuting businesses for civil fraud and protecting the public from economic exploitation. Her research interests include welfare reform, administrative justice, and socio-legal studies, where she uses ethnographic and other methods to study legal settings.