Poor Justice

“Poor Justice is one of those rare books that is not only a riveting read, but also makes an important scholarly contribution. Vicki Lens’s clear and engaging writing provides readers with a sobering analysis of how marginalized groups fare in the U.S. legal system. As a former legal services lawyer and social scientist, Vicki Lens shares an insider’s knowledge with an outsider’s critical eye.” –Corey Shdaimah, PhD, LLM, Associate Professor,University of Maryland School of Social Work”Lens draws upon her rich experiences as a lawyer, social worker, and ground-level researcher to illuminate the daily experiences of people without income in the courts. Like almost no one else, she knows unglamorous but essential corners of law, including welfare hearings, commitment proceedings for people with mental disabilities, and family courts. This text is a fine primer on law for the poor - and on the uses and limits of all kinds of law.” –FeliciaKornbluh, PhD, MA, Director of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies and Associate Professor of History, University of Vermont”Vicki Lens provides an insider’s human perspective on how the courts can in fact work for the least advantaged in our society. Poor Justice deftly combines ethnographic detail of courtroom drama with legal analysis and political critique. It makes for compelling reading and important scholarship about how the courts do indeed offer some basis for hope. This book deserves wide readership by students, scholars, policymakers, and citizens alike.“–Sanford Schram, PhD, MA, Professor of Political Science, Hunter College, CUNY”Professor Lens has written a scholarly and immensely readable analysis of justice - actually the lack of justice - for poor Americans. It is a powerful and irresistible call to action.” –Robert Hayes, JD, Founder, National Coalition for the Homeless; President and CEO, Community Healthcare Network

Vicki Lens, PhD, JD, is Associate Professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work. She previously worked as a public interest lawyer, providing legal services to the poor. She conducts socio-legal research, using ethnographic and other methods to study how courts work.