Access to Justice Design and Testing Program

There is a critical need for credible, national data on the linkages between the civil and criminal justice, including people-centered approaches and the systematic collection of data from justice systems and service providers. Thus, NORC at the University of Chicago and the American Bar Foundation are excited to work in partnership with BJS and subject matter experts on the Access to Justice Design and Testing Program to identify and fill gaps in the statistical coverage of access to justice for civil legal needs to increase understanding of the intersection between the criminal justice system and the civil justice system. Through this important project, we will review, develop, and rigorously test the Civil Legal Needs Survey (CLNS) with a representative address-based sample, and identify, develop, and test other data collections related to access to justice for civil legal needs.