CARSON CITY, Nev. – If you can't afford an attorney, one will be provided for you in American criminal courts. But that isn't the case in civil courts, and a new study examines the thousands of cases each year of Nevadans facing the legal system without representation.

Commissioned by the Nevada Supreme Court's Access to Justice Commission, the study said three out of four low-income Nevadans with legal challenges aren't able to get a lawyer for cases involving issues such as domestic violence, home foreclosures or workplace discrimination.

Brad Lewis, the commission's director, said people without attorneys often give up or lose their cases, which can lock them into a cycle of poverty.

"Those problems often beget people missing work, and then they lose their job as a result of that," he said. "Then they lose their income, then they can't pay their rent, then they have to move somewhere, then their children don't attend school or get changed to a different school."

Lewis said Legal Aid attorneys, who provide free representation, can not only bring positive outcomes in court but also help connect people with resources toward a more productive life. But the study found that more public funding is needed for legal-aid programs.

The number of Nevadans in poverty has grown since the Great Recession. The study showed that in Nevada, there's now just one Legal Aid attorney for every 6,000 lower-income residents. Lewis said about 15 times as many lawyers are available to the state's wealthier populations.

"Is it fair that a poor person is most likely to lose their case, and someone who can afford a lawyer is most likely to win their case? Justice shouldn't just be for the wealthy and the powerful and the connected," he said. "It really needs to be for everyone."

The study said every $1 invested in low-income legal assistance returns about $7 to the state, because working out civil issues in court can prevent costs down the road for services such as law enforcement or health care. Legal Aid also can bring bigger payouts to the state in the form of benefits for veterans, children and people with disabilities.

The Nevada Legal Needs and Economic Impact Study is online at nvbar.org.


get more stories like this via email

Civic groups are taking action against what they call voter suppression tactics in the South.

This week Alabama Values, Southern Leadership for Voter Engagement (SOLVE), and Groundwork Project joined forces with other organizations to discuss recent legislation such as Alabama House Bill 209.

The bill's provisions would forbid individuals from aiding in the distribution, ordering, requesting, collecting, obtaining, or delivering of an absentee ballot application or absentee ballot on behalf of someone else.

During the briefing, Dillion Nettles - policy and advocacy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama - said the bill also criminalizes civic organizations and individuals wanting to assist others in exercising their right to vote by limiting who can help get the ballots or applications.

"But that is a very narrow group of individuals," said Nettles. "You essentially have to be someone who works as an election official or works in the absentee election managers office, you have to be a next of kin of that individual, or someone who lives with them. "

If it passes, HB 209 would establish felony charges for people who break the law.

According to Kiana Jackson - research and coalition organizing manager at New Disabled South - this bill not only hinders organizations that facilitate voting accessibility, but also creates greater hurdles for older adults and individuals with disabilities.

"We know that about 7.5% of disabled people are not able to have a voter ID, compared to able bodied people at 4%," said Jackson. "So there are huge gaps in even how we vote but then particularly when we talk about accessibility and you're putting more and more barriers in place."

HB 209 is through the House and awaits action by the State Governmental Affairs Committee.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.




get more stories like this via email

On Wednesday, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed a trio of bills that sought to reduce gun violence.

Assembly Bill 354 would have cracked down on so-called "ghost gun" sale loopholes and prohibited guns at polling places. AB 355 would have raised the legal age to possess assault weapons from 18 to 21.

And SB 171 would have prohibited anyone convicted of a hate crime from owning, purchasing or possessing a firearm for 10 years.

Executive Director of Battle Born Progress Annette Magnus said she's "never been so disappointed about three bills" in her life.

At a news conference, Magnus said gun owners like herself - and the majority of Nevadans - support what she called "commonsense measures."

"We are here now to express our disappointment and disgust for the fact that he was willing and able to sign these measures into law to protect Nevadans, the day after yet another shooting that happened in New Mexico," said Magnus, "and he vetoed them as the first bills of session."

Magnus called Lombardo's action a "slap in the face."

In a statement, the governor said he won't support "legislation that infringes on the constitutional rights of Nevadans." He said he saw the bills as "in direct conflict with legal precedent and established constitutional protections."

Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui - D-Las Vegas - was among supporters of the bills, and is a survivor of the October 2017 shooting spree in Las Vegas that took 58 lives and left hundreds injured.

Jauregui said after Lombardo spent time consoling the families of that tragedy, she expected him - in her words - "to have the basic empathy to realize his responsibility to prevent future mass shootings and gun violence tragedies."

"It is disappointing for the governor to reject these commonsense measures that would save lives," said Jauregui. "I desperately wish the governor would put the safety of Nevadans ahead of partisan politics."

Jauregui added that rejecting the bills puts the governor "out of touch with everyday Nevadans."

Participants at the news conference said they'll continue to work for gun-violence prevention in the state.

Civil rights groups are forging connections to fight the rising tide of hate crimes.

In a briefing from the Act Against Hate Alliance Wednesday, civil rights leaders explained efforts to enlist regular people, advocacy groups, governments and corporations in the fight against hate.

Laura E. Ellsworth, a partner at the Jones Day law firm, organizes the annual Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh, the site of the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue.

"Whether it be against LGBT people or immigrants in El Paso or Jews again in Poway or Sikhs in Oak Creek or Asians throughout California, again and again and again we see this identity-based violence," Ellsworth observed.

Five months ago, California was scarred by a mass shooting that killed 11 Asian-Americans during the Lunar New Year celebration at two dance halls in Monterey Park. A year ago, a white supremacist gunman targeted Black shoppers, killing 10 at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

Recently Gov. Gavin Newsom announced two new ways to report hate speech and hate crimes, by logging on to the website CAvsHate.org or calling 833-8-NO-HATE.

Tamás Berecz, general manager of the International Network Against Cyber Hate in the Netherlands, said his organization responds to complaints of online hate speech and manages a database to monitor trends in cyber hate.

"Hate speech is not always followed by hate crimes, but hate crimes are very, very often or almost always preceded by hate speech," Berecz explained.

May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.

Dennis Santiago, chief operating officer of the National Diversity Coalition based in Los Angeles, said his organization tries to fight the myth of the Pacific Rim cultures as a monolith.

"Each one of them has beachhead cultures in the United States," Santiago noted. "And every single one of them has different characteristics in terms of their economic integration, their cultural isolation, even from each other."

The 2021 California Hate Crime Report found hate crimes increased more than 32% in the Golden State between 2020 and 2021. Anti-Asian hate crime events increased dramatically, rising 177.5% during the same time period.


get more stories like this via email