David Peters releases report on the impact of rural legal deserts

David Peters, professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, has released his latest small-town findings for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. The purpose of the report, “Understanding Rural Legal Deserts,” is to identify legal deserts across non-metropolitan counties to better inform policy and research on this issue.

Peters’ first finding is that there is no binary definition of legal deserts, rather it falls along a continuum based on severity of lawyer gap rates. Second, legal deserts affect over half of non-metro counties, but are concentrated in a few states in the west and south. Third, Peters’ research team found the American Bar Association’s definition of a legal desert is too high for use in policy; and they recommend lowering the threshold from 1.0 to 0.5 lawyers per 1,000 residents. Fourth, lawyers in legal deserts earn about the same as lawyers in other non-metro counties, suggesting financial incentives may be less effective. Legal deserts also tend to be more distant, disconnected, diverse, and disadvantaged. This limits the use of mobile legal clinics and tele-legal services, and requires lawyers to have proper language or cultural competencies. Peters and his research team recommend licensed legal paraprofessional programs as a long-term solution to address legal deserts. Lastly, the team suggests that communities promote legal consciousness in their community to improve people’s awareness of their legal rights, the legal process, and how to access legal services.