Doctoral Dissertation Research: Accessing Assistance and Citizen Engagement

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This project asks whether civil legal assistance can affect recipients' perceptions of judicial processes and institutions and their development of civic skills. This project tests a theory of policy feedback--the reciprocal effect of policies on those who interact with them--and applies it to legal services. This project hypothesizes that the realization of the enforcement of the civil law for one's self and working with a legal service provider could lead to increasing belief in political and civic effectiveness and increasing civic skills. Further, it is expected that interactions with a legal service provider will enhance an assessment of procedural fairness and support for both justice institutions and government institutions more broadly. To test these theoretical expectations, the investigators will administer a survey to people with civil legal concerns before, during, and after their contact with legal assistance in order to assess its civil and political impact. The project's intellectual merit stems from its contribution to what researchers know about policy feedback by considering as yet untested mechanisms by which individuals encounter legal institutions. Currently the method of service delivery and access to it have not yet been considered in extant literature. The project's broader impacts include collaboration with service providers to develop more sophisticated measurement tools and evaluation of the effects of service provision, as well as better understanding of the development of skills relevant to civic and political efficacy.