Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T03:52:27.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Attitudes to justice in a rural community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Daniel Newman
Daniel Newman*
Affiliation:
Cardiff University
*
Cardiff University, School of Law, Museum Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK. Email: newmandc@cardiff.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper offers a timely investigation into access to justice in rural areas through place-based research. The paper reports an empirical study designed to gain the local knowledge and personal experience of one particular group of rural dwellers in the hope that it might help encourage a wider discussion on access to rural justice. The research has been conducted within the wider socio-political context of austerity that provides a challenge to public-sector service delivery in general, alongside the particular legal impact of budget cuts on the provision of justice, with closures of large amounts of courts, the decline in legal aid provision and reductions in police numbers. Such are important issues for England and Wales as a whole, meaning that this research is contemporary and represents one of the first academic studies to specifically deal with the impact of austerity on access to justice. The value of this research is further heightened with its focus on the specific rural impact of such cuts as rural areas are those likely to face the biggest effect on provision while concomitantly being the least studied area of legal provision, with notably little scholarship in the past two decades into justice in rural England and Wales. Considering the damage these cuts may cause to rural justice is a current issue of utmost importance to the principle of access to justice. The paper offers the foundations upon which a new wave of academic attention to justice in rural areas should be developed, reflecting the need to give due credence to the rural in contemporary socio-legal scholarship.

Type
Research Article
Information
Legal Studies , Volume 36 , Issue 4 , December 2016 , pp. 591 - 612
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Legal Scholars 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Rhode, D Access to Justice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).Google Scholar

2. Sommerlad, H ‘Some reflections on the relationship between citizenship, access to justice, and the reform of legal aid’ (2004) 31(3) J L Soc'y 435.Google Scholar

3. Albiston, C and Sandefur, R ‘Expanding the empirical study of access to justice’ (2004) (1) Wis L Rev 101 at 102.Google Scholar

4. Farrington, J et al Car Dependence in Rural Scotland (Edinburgh: The Scottish Office, 1998).Google Scholar

5. Collins, N ‘Rural communities more isolated as public transport forgotten’ Daily Telegraph 14 January 2014.Google Scholar

6. Department for Transport ‘National Travel Survey 2010’ Department for Transport Statistical Release, 28 June 2011.

7. RAC Foundation ‘Poorest households sink deeper into transport poverty’ Press Release, 6 February 2014.

8. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The Cost of Fuel in Rural Areas (London: DEFRA, 2012).Google ScholarPubMed

9. Nutley, S ‘Rural areas: the accessibility problem’ in Holye, B and Knowles, R (eds) Modern Transport Geography (Chichester: John Wiley, 1998).Google Scholar

10. Kenyon, S, Rafferty, J and Lyons, G ‘Social exclusion and transport in the Uk: a role for virtual accessibility in the alleviation of mobility-related social exclusion?’ (2001) 32(3) J Soc Pol'y 317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11. Velaga, N et al ‘Transport poverty meets the digital divide: accessibility and connectivity in rural communities’ (2012) 21(1) J Transp Geog 102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

12. Gray, D et al ‘Car dependence in rural Scotland: transport policy, devolution and the impact of the fuel duty escalator’ (2001) 17(1) J Rural Stud 113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13. Moody, S ‘Rural neglect: the case against criminology’ in Dingwall, G and Moody, S (eds) Crime and Conflict in the Countryside (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1999).Google Scholar

14. See eg Strasser, R ‘Rural health around the world: challenges and solutions’ (2003) 20(4) Fam Prac 457;CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed or Goines, R et al ‘Perceived barriers to health care access among rural older adults: a qualitative study’ (2005) 21(3) J Rural Health 206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

15. Blacksell, M, Economides, K and Watkins, C Justice Outside the City (Harlow: Longman Scientific and Technical, 1991).Google Scholar

16. Hynes, S Austerity Justice (London: Legal Action Group, 2012).Google Scholar

17. Byrom, N The State of the Sector: The Impact of Cuts to Civil Legal Aid on Practitioners and Their Clients (Warwick: Centre for Human Rights in Practice, 2013).Google Scholar

18. S Hynes ‘A year of austerity justice’ (2014) Legal Action, April.

19. E Howard ‘Legal aid in England and Wales: what is changing?’ The Guardian 9 September 2014.

20. O Bowcott ‘Barristers and solicitors walk out over cuts to legal aid fees’ The Guardian 5 January 2015.

21. D Barrett ‘Legal aid cuts reversed by Justice Secretary Michael Gove’ The Telegraph 28 January 2016.

22. J Parry ‘What are criminal legal aid lawyers paid?’ (2015) Parry Welch Lacey; available at https://parrywelchlacey.wordpress.com/what-are-criminal-legal-aid-lawyers-paid/(accessed 5 May 2016).

23. C Baksi ‘Criminal lawyers warn of “advice deserts” as they stage walk-out’ (2014) Law Society Gazette 7 March.

24. M Fouzder ‘Infographic lays bare impact of court closures’ (2015) Law Society Gazette 14 August.

25. Caird, J Court and Tribunal Closures (London: House of Commons Library, 2015).Google Scholar

26. Leftly, M ‘Court closures spark fears of ’“justice deserts” in rural areas’ The Independent 19 April 2014.Google Scholar

27. Ministry of Justice Proposal on the Provision of Court and Tribunal Estate in England and Wales (London: Ministry of Justice, 2015).Google Scholar

28. Law Society ‘Law Society: court closures will inhibit access to justice’ Press Release, 8 October 2015.

29. Editorial ‘Police cuts: new funding formula underestimates the needs of rural areas’ The Independent 2 November 2015.

30. Evans, M ‘Police budget cuts branded "madness" as rural forces complain they are being unfairly penalised’ The Telegraph 3 November 2015.Google Scholar

31. Travis, A ‘Police force threatens to sue Theresa May over funding plans’ The Guardian 4 September 2015.Google Scholar

32. National Rural Crime Network The True Cost of Crime in Rural Areas (Tavistock: National Rural Crime Network, 2015).Google Scholar

33. Dyfed–Powys Police Dyfed–Powys: Policing Rural Communities (Carmarthen: Dyfed–Powys Police, 2013).Google Scholar

34. Dyfed–Powys Police Dyfed–Powys: Responding to Austerity (London: Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, 2014).Google Scholar

35. Hough, M et al Attitudes to Sentencing and Trust in Justice: Exploring Trends from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (London: Ministry of Justice, 2013).Google Scholar

36. See eg Jamieson, K and Hennessy, M ‘Public understanding of and support for the courts: survey results’ (2007) 95(4) Geo L J 899;Google Scholar or Sprott, J ‘Understanding public views of youth crime and the youth justice system’ (1996) 38(3) Can J Criminology 271.Google Scholar

37. Church, T Examining Local Legal Culture: Practitioner Attitudes in Four Criminal Courts (Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, 1982).Google Scholar

38. Boyum, K ‘A perspective on civil delay in trial courts’ (1979) 5(2) Just System J 170.Google Scholar

39. Eisenstein, J ‘Research on rural criminal justice: a summary’ in Green, R, Jankovic, J and Cronk, S (eds) Criminal Justice in Rural America (Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, 1982).Google Scholar

40. Edmondson, C ‘Rural courts, the rural community and the challenge of change’ in McDonald, T, Wood, R and Pflug, M (eds) Rural Criminal Justice: Conditions, Constraints and Challenges (Salem, WI: Sheffield Publishing Company, 1996).Google Scholar

41. Fahnestock, K and Geiger, M ‘We all get along here: caseflow in rural courts’ (1993) 76(5) Judicature 258.Google Scholar

42. A Bartol ‘Structures and roles of rural courts’ in McDonald et al, above n 40.

43. Economides, K ‘The country lawyers: iconography, iconoclasm, and the restoration of the professional image’ (1992) 19(1) J L Soc'y 115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

44. Franklin, A and Lee, R ‘The embedded nature of rural legal services: sustaining service provision in Wales’ (2007) 34(2) J L Soc'y 218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

45. Mawby, R ‘Rural police: a comparative overview’ in Mawby, R and Yarwood, R (eds) Rural Policing and Policing the Rural (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011).Google Scholar

46. R Hester ‘Policing New Age travellers: conflict and control in the countryside’ in Dingwall and Moody, above n 13.

47. A Barton, D Storey and C Palmer ‘A trip in the country? Policing drug use in rural settings’ in Mawby and Yarwood, above n 45.

48. N Fyfe and A Reeves ‘The thin green line? Police perceptions of the challenges of policing wildlife crime in Scotland’ in Mawby and Yarwood, above n 45.

49. J Donnermeyer, E Barclay and D Mears ‘Policing agricultural crime’ in Mawby and Yarwood, above n 45.

50. G Squire and A Gil ‘“It's not all Heartbeat you know”: policing domestic violence in rural areas’ in Mawby and Yarwood, above n 45.

51. Miles, M and Huberman, A Qualitative Data Analysis (Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE Publications, 1994).Google Scholar

52. Patton, M Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods (Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE Publications, 2002).Google Scholar

53. Moles, K and Radcliffe, J ‘Deep rural communities: exploring service provision in rural Wales’ in Milborune, P (ed) Rural Wales in the Twenty-First Century (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2011) p 248.Google Scholar

54. Preston, J A Fair Deal? Regulation and Financing of Bus Services in Wales (Cardiff: Public Policy Institute for Wales, 2014).Google Scholar

55. J Wild ‘Bus operators in Wales threaten to cut services’ Financial Times 22 November 2013.

56. Newman, D Crucorney Energy Group Transport Survey 2014 (Cardiff: Sustainable Places Research Institute, 2014).Google Scholar

57. Williamson, D ‘Warning that Wales faces a “perfect storm” of police cuts, court closures and legal aid changes’ Wales Online 30 October 2015.Google Scholar

58. Guest, G Applied Thematic Analysis (Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE Publications, 2012).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

59. Braun, V and Clarke, V ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’ (2006) 3(2) Qual Res Psychol 77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

60. Fugard, A and Potts, H ‘Supporting thinking on sample sizes for thematic analyses: a quantitative tool’ (2015) 18(6) Int'l J Soc Res Meth 669.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

61. Guest, G, Bunce, A and Johnson, L ‘How many interviews are enough? an experiment with data saturation and variability’ (2006) 18(1) Field Methods 59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

62. L Koffman ‘Crime in rural Wales’ in Dingwall and Moody, above n 10.

63. National Assembly for Wales Key Statistics for Monmouthshire (Cardiff: National Assembly for Wales, 2008).Google Scholar

64. Phillips, M ‘Rural gentrification and the processes of class colonisation’ (1993) 9(2) J Rural Stud 123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

65. Shucksmith, M Exclusive Countryside? Social Exclusion and Regeneration in Rural Areas (York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2000).Google Scholar

66. Eurostat The Poorest Regions in the UK are the Poorest in Northern Europe (Brussels: European Union, 2014).Google Scholar

67. Economides, K, Blacksell, M and Watkins, C ‘The spatial analysis of legal systems: towards a geography of law?’ (1986) 13(2) J L Soc'y 161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar