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law, poverty and legal aid - access to criminal justice

This book focuses on the importance of the right of access to justice for those interacting with the criminal justice system as complainants, suspects, status offenders or prisoners. The law, processes, procedures and practices that govern the functioning of the system are largely incomprehensible to the layperson and, therefore, legal assistance becomes imperative at each state.

This study traces the historical evolution of criminal legal aid in the country, analyses the relevant statutes, schemes and judicial pronouncements and seeks to demonstrate the linkage that the denial of legal aid has with the loss of liberty of an individual within the criminal justice system. Situating the issue in the context of law and poverty, this work shows that for the economically and socially disadvantaged person, the denial of access to justice, which is a non-derogable right, could result in multiple violations of human rights including the deprivation of the means of survival and have the effect of delegitimising the legal system in relation to such person.

A highlight of the book is the critical and comparative analyses of extant legal aid systems in the USA, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Bangladesh. The author suggests, from the perspective of a seasoned legal aid practitioner, a workable model scheme that would facilitate the transition from a formal declaration of the right to legal aid to an effect right of access to justice in the criminal justice system in India.

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Reviews

Justice VR Krishna Iyer
in the Foreword

Professor SP Sathe,
Director IALS, Pune

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION


Chapter 2 EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT OF LEGAL AID

1. The pre-Independence phase
2. The second phase 1949-1970
3. The Third Phase 1970-1977
4. The Aftermath of the 1977 Report

Chapter 3 LEGAL AID IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM:THE CONSTITUTION, THE STATUTES, THE SCHEMES

1. Introduction
2. Constitutional provisions
3. Statutory prescriptions in criminal law
4. Prison Manuals
5. The pre-1980 Schemes
6. Draft legislation on legal aid
7. Committee for the Implementation of Legal Aid Schemes
8. Legal Services Authorities Act 1987
9. Lawyers and legal aid

Chapter 4 JUDICIAL RESPONSE - PART I: COURTS AND LEGAL REPRESENTATION     

1. Introduction
2. First phase - 1898 to 1950
3. Second phase - 1950 to1974

Chapter 5 JUDICIAL RESPONSE - PART II: JUDICIAL ACTIVISM AND LEGAL AID

1. Introduction
2. Legal aid at the stage of entry into the criminal justice system
3. Prisons and legal aid
4. PIL and legal aid
5. Human rights and legal aid
6. Lawyers and legal aid

Chapter 6 POVERTY, LAW AND LEGAL AID

1. Introduction
2. Vagrants and beggars
3. The destitute/wandering mentally ill
4. Sex workers

Chapter 7 A SURVEY OF CRIMINAL LEGAL AID IN FOUR COUNTRIES: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

1. Introduction
2. Main features of the criminal legal aid system in the United Kingdom
3. Main features of the criminal legal aid system in the USA   301
4. Main features of the system of criminal legal aid in South Africa
5. Main features of the system of criminal legal aid in Bangladesh
6. Comparative analysis

Chapter 8 SUMMATION AND SUGGESTIONS

1. Summation
2. Other issues
3. Outline of a plan of action for legal aid in the criminal justice system in India