Finding Justice Over the Airwaves

Low-income people often miss out on court dates because they cannot afford to miss work or leave their children. Michigan and Ohio courts have incorporated the Matterhorn “online adjudication system” to handle simple cases so individuals can participate through the Internet. The system also offers the advantage of having “less bias” than in-person trials, because the race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status of the individual is protected online.

The Rural Attorney Recruitment Program (RARP) addresses critical shortages of legal services in rural areas by providing attorneys $12,513 annually for five years to practice in communities under 3,500. The program has 36 participating attorneys, including 19 who have completed the program and 14 who continue to practice in their rural communities beyond their five-year obligations. Since the program launched, participating attorneys have provided over 300 hours of pro bono work worth more than $30,000 in some counties.

To increase awareness of cervical cancer and the cancer-preventing HPV vaccine, Al-Ansar radio shares information about the disease, the vaccine and works to dispel speculation and misinformation about vaccines in general to those in underserved and hard-to-reach areas, as they’re often hardest to get vaccinated.

The Mann Deshi Tarang Vahini community radio station aims to educate and broadcast important information, like weather alerts and COVID-19 resources, to rural areas in the country where access to information is often lacking. Listenership varies by region, but in some areas the radio station has over 100,000 listeners across more than 100 villages.

Lawyers, clerks, and judges are voluntarily hosting warrant clinics around the United States to help people address active warrants for their arrest — typically small traffic violations and misdemeanors. The clinics offer childcare, too, which is a common barrier for parents looking to address warrants.

The Child Health-Law Partnership (Child HeLP) is a collaboration between health and legal professionals to treat a patient’s “health-harming legal needs” together. The original medical-legal partnership began 30 years ago in Boston, but has since expanded to other cities to look at all aspects of a patient's health. To administer the best care, patients are asked questions about housing quality and stability, delays or denials of public benefits, unmet educational needs and mental health.

The Center for Belarusian Solidarity provides legal advice, information, and support to Belarusian migrants who face discrimination in Poland due to their country's relationship with Russia. Lawyers from the center can help advocate for refugees at visa centers or refer them to the Commissioner for Human Rights in more severe cases of discrimination.

The One Liver radio program shares information on hepatitis screening and preventative lifestyle changes and hosts Q&A sessions with medical experts about the condition. The program reaches over 20,000 listeners each week and helps connect listeners with medical outreaches to get screened and vaccinated.

The Basic Rights Counsel Initiative provides free legal representation, emergency shelter, and psychological support to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Nigeria's Cross River state. In a country where prosecutions can be hampered by ineffective or under-resourced institutions, the organization has filed 822 court cases and secured 30 arrests and convictions.

Headfort Foundation provides free legal services to people who can’t afford lawyers. Through their app, Lawyers NowNow, users can access free legal advice and get connected to pro bono lawyers. The group of all-female lawyers work exclusively with people who do not have the resources to hire lawyers, especially those that have been victims of police brutality or wrongfully incarcerated. The group has worked on over 1,000 cases in three years and secured the release of almost 300 people in that time.