Doctoral Dissertation Research: Accessing Assistance and Citizen Engagement

该项目探讨民事法律的援助是否能够影响受援者对司法程序和机构的看法及其公民技能的发展。本项目检验政策反馈理论-政策对与政策互动者的相互影响-并将其应用于法律的服务。 该项目假设，实现为自己执行民法和与法律的服务提供者合作，可以提高对政治和公民效力的信念，并提高公民技能。 此外，预计与法律的服务提供者的互动将加强对程序公正性的评估，并更广泛地支持司法机构和政府机构。为了检验这些理论预期，调查人员将在接触法律的援助之前、期间和之后对有民事法律的问题的人进行调查，以评估其民事和政治影响。 该项目的学术价值来自于它对研究人员了解政策反馈的贡献，因为它考虑了个人遇到法律的机构的尚未经过检验的机制。 目前，现有文献尚未考虑提供服务的方法和获得服务的机会。 该项目更广泛的影响包括与服务提供者合作，开发更先进的衡量工具，评价提供服务的效果，以及更好地了解与公民和政治效能有关的技能的发展。

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.