Rural Legal Deserts Are a Critical Health Determinant

Abstract

We introduce “rural legal deserts,” or rural areas experiencing attorney shortages, as a meaningful health determinant. We demonstrate that the absence of rural attorneys has significant impacts on public health—impacts that are rapidly exacerbated by COVID-19. Our work builds on recent scholarship that underscores the public health relevance of attorneys in civil and criminal contexts. It recognizes attorneys as crucial to interprofessional health care teams and to establishing equitable health-related laws and policies. Attorney interventions transform institutional practices and help facilitate the stability necessary for health maintenance and recovery. Yet, critically, many rural residents cannot access legal supports. As more individuals experience unemployment, eviction, and insecure benefits amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need for attorneys to address these social determinants of health as legal needs. Accordingly, the growing absence of attorneys in the rural United States proves particularly consequential—because of this pandemic context but also because of rural health disparities. We argue that unless a collaborative understanding of these interrelated phenomena is adopted, justice gaps will continue to compound rural health inequities. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print August 20, 2020: e1–e4. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2020.305807)

Rurality as Concordance: Mental Health Service Delivery for Rural Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

“…In this section, we situate our specific findings about structural, spatial, and social barriers to mental health care in the existing literature. As in many rural regions in the United States, communities in northern Wisconsin suffer from fewer medical services—including mental health services (Hastings and Cohn 2013; Statz and Termuhlen 2020). The reasons for this are often financial: Insurers reimburse behavioral health services at a lower rate than other medical specialties, and for patients covered by Medicaid, the rate is typically even less.…”

Investigating Access to Justice, the Rural Lawyer Shortage, and Implications for Civil and Criminal Legal Systems

“…Forthcoming in Research Methods for Rural Criminologists As illustrated by the Georgia map referenced above, the spatial turn in A2J scholarship eventually led to attention to scales lower than that of the state. This coincided to some extent with the burgeoning awareness that many rural areas were experiencing attorney shortages, another place-based challenge that has drawn attention to a range of rural socio-spatial and service deficits (Statz & Termuhlen, 2020). When, in 2013, South Dakota became the first state to pay lawyers to practice in rural places, it used the scale of the county to designate underserved areas, specifically counties with fewer than 10,000 residents (Pruitt et al, 2018, p. 105).…”

Examining students’ perception of rural practice following an educational strategy aimed at preparing postsecondary students for rural careers: a systematic review protocol for qualitative studies

“…⇒ This protocol aims to minimise bias by using The Joanna Briggs Open access experiencing intimate partner violence more vulnerable as they might have to spend more time in dangerous situations awaiting legal counsel. 10 It is imperative that the number of rural workforce professionals increases, as this could substantially impact the sustainability and the quality of life of rural people. Researchers, policy-makers and communities in Japan, the USA, Australia and Canada have attempted different strategies to recruit and retain rural workforce professionals.…”

“…6 In the USA, there are shortages of doctors, 7 dentists, 8 teachers 9 and attorneys in non-metropolitan areas. 10 This is concerning, as many of these professions can have an impact on a person’s well-being. For example, the lack of attorneys can make individuals experiencing intimate partner violence more vulnerable as they might have to spend more time in dangerous situations awaiting legal counsel.…”

“…6 In the USA, there are shortages of doctors, 7 dentists, 8 teachers 9 and attorneys in non-metropolitan areas. 10 This is concerning, as many of these professions can have an impact on a person's well-being. For example, the lack of attorneys can make individuals…”