Access to Justice Design and Testing Program: Identifying the Nexus of Civil and Criminal Legal Needs

• In Event: A Review of the Past, Present and Future of the Bureau of Justice Statistics' Data Collections

Abstract

Many individuals who interact with the criminal justice system face related civil legal issues both as a result of the interaction or due to connected circumstances. The Access to Justice Design and Testing Program (AJDTP) is a new BJS project centered on the development of new data collections on these topics. The AJDTP plans to develop and test the Civil Legal Needs Survey (CLNS) and test other data collections on this topic. The presentation will discuss progress to date, including the CLNS instrument design and cognitive and usability testing, and the implementation of feasibility studies for secondary data collections.

Author

• Emilie Coen, Bureau of Justice Statistics, USDOJ