Should U.S. Attorneys’ Offices Promote Pro Bono Legal Services for Survivors of Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault? (S. 717)
Do you support or oppose this bill?
What is S. 717?
(Updated December 12, 2018)
This bill was enacted on September 4, 2018
This bill — known as the POWER Act — would promote pro bono legal services to empower survivors of domestic violence. By promoting pro bono legal services for domestic violence survivors, this bill would aim to alleviate the current shortfall between pro bono legal service availability and survivors’ need for such services.
Under this bill, U.S. Attorney’s offices, in partnership with domestic violence service providers or volunteer lawyer projects, would be required to conduct events to promote pro bono services for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking:
U.S. Attorney’s offices in all 94 judicial districts across the country must conduct an event to promote pro bono legal services for survivors at least once a year,
U.S. Attorney’s offices in judicial districts that contain Native American tribes or tribal organizations must conduct a public event to promote pro bono legal services for Native American or Alaska Native survivors at least once every two years.
In conducting these events, U.S. Attorneys’ offices would have to try to maximize the local impact and provision of high-quality pro bono legal services to survivors. They’d also have to report to the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) on the public events they conduct, while DOJ would compile and summarize the reports’ results and submit them to Congress.
The bill’s full title is the Pro bono Work to Empower and Represent (POWER) Act of 2017.
Argument in favor
Lack of financial resources shouldn’t be an impediment to domestic violence survivors’ efforts to leave their abusers. The civil legal system is complicated, and having an attorney significantly improves survivors’ odds of success in court. In the absence of public defenders, pro bono legal services — while imperfect — are better than no legal services at all.
Argument opposed
Pro bono legal assistance, while well-intentioned, may not meet survivors’ needs. Domestic violence is a dangerous situation, and involving volunteers who may not be adequately trained in crisis response in survivors’ efforts to extricate themselves from their situation may put both volunteer attorneys and survivors in danger.
Impact
Domestic violence survivors; sexual assault survivors; attorneys; pro bono legal organizations; U.S. Attorneys’ offices; and Dept. of Justice.
Cost of S. 717
A CBO cost estimate for this bill is unavailable. However, there should be no budgetary impact, as the legislation specifies that the DOJ’s administrative office should use existing funds to carry out the requirements of this bill.
Additional Info
In-Depth: Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) introduced this bill to help combat domestic abuse and sexual violence:
“Pro bono assistance… [is a] particularly helpful tool in giving hope to victims of domestic violence. The POWER Act will bring this tool to more communities, encouraging lawyers across the country to get involved and help victims who too often fear or are unfamiliar with the justice system.”
The American Bar Association (ABA) supports this bill as part of its overall support for bar members engaging in pro bono work. The bill as written includes language from the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, calling pro bono legal service work potentially “one of the most rewarding experiences in the life of a lawyer.”
Domestic Violence Action Center (DVAC), a Honolulu-based agency that provides legal assistance and outreach to victims of domestic abuse, is opposed to this bill, as it believes that the legislation as is — which doesn’t include funding to fulfill its mandate — wouldn’t provide the financial resources needed to adequately meet the demand for services. Some DVAC-affiliated specialists even say they believe the legislation could be counterproductive because of the severity of the danger posed by abusers. Nanci Kreidman, chief executive officer of DVAC, notes that pro bono legal assistance may do more harm than good:
“Pro bono legal assistance is problematic for several reasons. Untrained attorneys assisting survivors who may be in life-threatening situations can be potentially fatal. All attorneys must be trained to understand the risks and the right set of practices and interventions to be helpful, and not harmful.”
There are 11 cosponsors of this bill, (including six Republicans and five Democrats.
This is the second time this bill has passed the Senate. Sen. Sullivan successfully moved the POWER Act through the Senate in 2015, but it was held up in the House. This year, the Senate passed the bill unanimously, and the House is taking up a slightly different version of the legislation. There, Sen. Sullivan hopes that a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Rep. Don Young (R-AK) and Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA), can help move it across the finish line.
Of Note: One in four U.S. women will experience domestic violence over the course of their lifetimes. Domestic violence survivors’ need for legal representation is significant. According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) , the second-most-requested service for domestic violence shelters is legal representation to obtain protective orders. Currently, there is far from adequate pro bono service availability to meet survivors’ needs: on a single day in September 2014, over 10,000 requests for services, including legal representation, were unmet. Frequently, lack of access to legal services prevents survivors from finding the assistance needed to stop the cycle of abuse and escape their abusers.
When legal assistance is rendered available, outcomes are significantly improved for survivors. For example, without an attorney, the probability that a survivor will be granted a protective order is 32% — with an attorney, that number rises to 83%.
Media:
Summary by Lorelei Yang
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