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Your Legislators Need To Hear From You About Right To Counsel!

In Massachusetts, over 90% of tenants facing eviction are unrepresented, yet 81% of landlords do have legal representation.

This inequitable distribution of power means that thousands of people – disproportionately women, families of color, and families with children – are thrown into Housing Court on their own without any form of legal representation, and are more likely to be forced out of their homes unnecessarily.

There is a common sense solution to this crisis – increase access to attorneys in Housing Court! Legislators are currently debating how to use the increase in federal funding the state has received to address the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now is the time to tell your legislators they should set aside ARPA funds for the creation of a Right to Counsel program in Housing Court.

These funding decisions are being made now and the House may debate and vote on a bill as early as this week!

TAKE ACTION
READ OUR TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT

Full legal representation has been shown to make a significant impact on tenants’ ability to remain in their homes. Funding a Right to Counsel program would protect the most vulnerable of our population from homelessness, and the many other debilitating effects of evictions, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Keep informed & stay involved!

Stay tuned for more opportunities to take action and support Massachusetts families and youth by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter! Check out our website for our most recent publications and action alerts.

To support our work, please consider giving a donation today.

Thank you for advancing social justice in Massachusetts!

 

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Day of Action: Urge Your Representatives to Support An Act to Create Access to Justice!

 

The Massachusetts legislative session is in full swing, and we have an unprecedented opportunity to advance civil rights for Massachusetts residents.

An Act to Create Access to Justice (S.996/H.1792) would restore civil rights protections at the state level that were previously available under federal law, make legal remedies accessible, and protect all vulnerable groups. Check out this fact sheet to learn more.

TAKE ACTION

Today, our goal is to reach as many Massachusetts lawmakers as possible. We need you to raise your voice! Please take this one-minute action today and urge your legislators to co-sponsor and support An Act to Create Access to Justice.

Everyone deserves protection under the law and the ability to seek redress in court.

 

Keep informed & stay involved!

Stay tuned for more opportunities to take action and support Massachusetts families and youth by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter! Check out our website for our most recent publications and action alerts.

To support our work, please consider giving a donation today.

Thank you for advancing social justice in Massachusetts!

 

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Day of Action: Urge Your Representatives to Support Language Access for All!

Exciting news: the Language Access and Inclusion Act is scheduled for a hearing before the legislature next week!

But before that happens, we need to consolidate as much support behind this bill as we can. This is an unprecedented opportunity to dismantle barriers to access, stability, and basic needs that have gone unaddressed for too long, and we can’t do it without you.

The Language Access and Inclusion Act would standardize and enforce language access policies and protocols at public-facing state agencies to ensure non-English speaking residents can access the services they need. As families continue to struggle under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must protect and guarantee the right to language access across the state.

TAKE ACTION

Today, our goal is to reach as many Massachusetts lawmakers as possible to ensure this bill has robust support heading into next week’s hearing. We need you to raise your voice! Please take this one-minute action today and urge your legislators to co-sponsor and support the Language Access and Inclusion Act.

 

Keep informed & stay involved!

Stay tuned for more opportunities to take action and support Massachusetts families and youth by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter! Check out our website for our most recent publications and action alerts.

To support our work, please consider giving a donation today.

Thank you for advancing social justice in Massachusetts!

 

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Limited English Proficient Families File Discrimination Complaint Against The Massachusetts Department of Children And Families

Boston, MA, July 14, 2021 – Today, Haitian-Americans United, the Greater Boston Latino Network, and Jane Doe, a mother and immigrant with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), filed a civil rights complaint under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act against the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) in response to the agency’s failure to provide federally mandated language access to the LEP families they serve. The complaint, filed by Lawyers for Civil Rights and Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, asks the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to compel DCF to comply with legal mandates to provide language access services to Massachusetts families.

DCF’s failure to provide adequate language access to LEP parents directly results in the wrongful separation of non-English speaking families across the Commonwealth. As a recent report by Appleseed documents in detail, when DCF fails to prioritize language access, LEP parents are unable to comprehend or meaningfully participate in DCF’s processes. As a result, LEP families face an increased likelihood of separation compared to their English-speaking counterparts. In fact, Latinx families are more overrepresented in foster care in Massachusetts than in any other state.

“The level of harm we’re talking about is immeasurable,” said Deborah Silva, Executive Director of Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. “The wrongful and unjust separation of families leaves children traumatized and denies parents their fundamental rights. DCF must be held accountable and meet the needs of the non-English speaking populations they serve.”

DCF has been on notice of its civil rights violations for years and has had ample opportunity to remedy its discriminatory practices. In 2018, HHS investigated a Title VI complaint made by a Spanish-speaking person who had received inadequate language assistance from DCF. The investigation brought to light DCF’s woefully inadequate use of interpreters for LEP families. Following the investigation, HHS issued a set of voluntary compliance measures intended to bring DCF’s language access practices in line with federal law. But DCF refused to comply voluntarily. In the absence of ongoing monitoring and enforcement, DCF has continued to deprive non-English speaking families of meaningful language access, and consequently access to their children.

“Our foster care system has a long and disturbing history of separating families of color and immigrant families,” said Erin Fowler, attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights. “DCF’s failure to provide adequate language access is discrimination against immigrants and families of color. Federal intervention is critically needed to ensure that families are not wrongfully separated.” 

The complaint calls for immediate federal intervention and oversight to compel DCF comply with its federal obligation to provide meaningful access to LEP individuals. Specifically, the complaint requests that HHS order DCF to adopt and implement a comprehensive remediation plan for meaningful access by LEP individuals. The remediation plan should:

  • require DCF to conduct a language access audit, create a meaningful language access plan, and hire Regional Language Access Coordinators, placing at least one Coordinator within each of DCF’s five regions;
  • set concrete targets for hiring bilingual caseworkers for languages frequently encountered, with a focus on the needs of individual area offices; 
  • require quarterly trainings for all caseworkers and contract interpreters on the importance of language access, tools and techniques for competent interpretation, the importance of confidentiality and impartiality, and DCF terminology and procedures; 
  • require that interpreters be present during all visitations, phone or video conversations, and interactions with LEP individuals;
  • expressly forbid the use of family members, relatives, friends, neighbors, and children as interpreters; 
  • require the translation of all vital documents into the preferred languages of LEP individuals;
  • require all community social service providers DCF contracts with to offer in-person interpretation services, or else allow providers access to DCF’s telephonic interpretation services;
  • require the creation of policies and procedures describing detailed steps for caseworkers to identify alternative social services for LEP families; 
  • require DCF to adopt more flexible protocol to acknowledge the difficulty many LEP families experience when attempting to receive non-English social services; 
  • require the creation of policies and procedures describing detailed steps DCF should take upon receipt of a language access complaint; and
  • require DCF to take any other steps that are necessary to achieve full compliance with federal law. 

“Due to DCF’s failures, we have been forced to try to do DCF’s job for them—by providing community interpreters or translating documents that members have received in English,” says Dieufort Fleurissaint, Chair of the Board of Directors of Haitian-Americans United, the lead complainant in the case. “This drains our limited resources and harms our LEP members. HHS must ensure DCF remedies these wrongs and complies with federal law.” 

Family separation is unfortunately not limited to our southern border—it happens right here in Massachusetts. DCF must provide adequate language access to LEP families and, put simply, stop tearing immigrant families apart.

The complaint is available here. 

About Massachusetts Appleseed

Massachusetts Appleseed’s mission is to promote equal rights and opportunities for Massachusetts residents by developing and advocating for systemic solutions to social justice issues. The nonprofit researches and identifies the ways in which the justice system, schools, and government agencies have systematically failed impoverished and vulnerable communities, challenges harmful public policies that perpetuate injustices and inequities, advocates for statewide policy solutions, and develops know-your-rights resources for those impacted. (https://massappleseed.org)

 

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Join Today’s Day of Action and Support Language Access for All!

The Massachusetts legislative session is in full swing, and we have an unprecedented opportunity to dismantle barriers to access, stability, and basic needs that have gone unaddressed for too long.

The Language Access and Inclusion Act would standardize and enforce language access policies and protocols at public-facing state agencies to ensure non-English speaking residents can access the services they need. As families continue to struggle under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must protect and guarantee the right to language access across the state.

TAKE ACTION

Today, our goal is to reach as many Massachusetts lawmakers as possible. We need you to raise your voice! Please take this one-minute action today and urge your legislators to co-sponsor and support the Language Access and Inclusion Act.

 

Keep informed & stay involved!

Stay tuned for more opportunities to take action and support Massachusetts families and youth by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter! Check out our website for our most recent publications and action alerts.

To support our work, please consider giving a donation today.

Thank you for advancing social justice in Massachusetts!

 

Want to stay informed on the latest issues Massachusetts Appleseed is working on?
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Massachusetts Appleseed’s 2021-2022 Legislative Agenda

2021-2022 Legislative Agenda

This past year has been full of extraordinary challenges, but thanks to our community of support, we made powerful gains in the State House. Working with partners, we ensured that a language access provision was included in legislation to hold DCF accountable, successfully advocated for provisions in the sweeping police reform bill that protect the rights of Massachusetts youth, and more! Now, the 2021-2022 Massachusetts legislative session is here, and we’re ready to build on these successes. You have the power to help set the legislative agenda at the State House by taking action TODAY to support essential initiatives within Massachusetts Appleseed’s key policy areas, highlighted below:

Access to Justice

An Act Relative to Language Access and Inclusion: HD.3674 (Rep. Madaro) and SD.2251 (Sen. DiDomenico) would standardize and enforce language access protocols and practices at public-facing state agencies. In Massachusetts, nearly 1 in 10 residents speak a primary language other than English, and this statute would ensure that they have fair and equitable access to unemployment benefits, education, housing assistance, and healthcare – including getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

This bill is one of the key recommendations in our most recent report, Families Torn Apart: Language-Based Discrimination at the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, and would help hold Massachusetts’ child welfare agency accountable to prevent limited English proficient families from being unjustly separated.

Fact Sheet Bill Summary

An Act to Create Access to Justice: HD.1968 (Rep. Meschino and Rep. Madaro) and SD.1893 (Sen. DiDomenico) would create a private right of action for individuals who have been subjected to disparate impact discrimination by Massachusetts state agencies and other government entities. “Disparate impact” means situations where laws, policies, and practices appear neutral on their face, but in practice adversely affect individuals who are members of a legally protected class (i.e. race, gender, age, disability, or national origin). This bill would fill a gap in existing federal civil rights law and enable individuals to bring claims of disparate impact discrimination under state law in Massachusetts, allowing for systemic change through our state court system.

This bill is also one of the key recommendations in our most recent report, Families Torn Apart: Language-Based Discrimination at the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, and would enfranchise limited English proficient parents to take legal action in defense of their civil rights.

Keep Kids in Class

An Act to Ensure Equitable Access to Education, Including Special Education Services, for All Students in Massachusetts: HD.1433 (Rep. Decker) would require the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to publish demographic data on student discipline – such as race, gender, English-language ability, poverty, disability status, and discipline rate – in a form that could be cross-tabulated and allow for multi-variable analysis. Good policy starts with good data, and this bill will ensure greater transparency and enable advocates, grassroots organizers, and anyone in the Massachusetts community to better identify disparities and inequitable treatment of students, and hold schools accountable.

This bill is one of the key recommendations in our collaborative 2020 report, Protecting Girls of Color from the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

An Act Prohibiting Discrimination Based on Natural Hairstyles: HD.447 (Rep. Ultrino), SD.2349 (Sen. Gomez), and SD.1407 (Sen. DiDomenico) would amend existing state civil rights law to specifically ban discrimination based upon natural hairstyle. Young women and girls of color face disparate discipline in Massachusetts schools, and as we saw in 2017, hairstyle discrimination can play a significant role in pushing Black girls out of their classrooms. This bill would make sure no student is barred from their learning environment because of the way they wear their hair and is an important step forward to combat racial disparities in school discipline.

Fact Sheet

 

Youth Homelessness & Hunger

An Act to Provide Identification to Youth and Adults Experiencing Homelessness: HD.984 (Rep. Khan and Rep. O’Day) and SD.636 (Sen. Chandler) would require the Registry of Motor Vehicles to waive the $25 fee for Mass ID applicants who are experiencing homelessness, and to accept alternative verifications of Massachusetts residency from state agencies and social service agencies.

Currently, many young people experiencing homelessness cannot obtain state ID, which they often need to apply for a job, access public services, open a bank account, and accomplish a host of other important life tasks. One entire chapter of the Massachusetts Homeless Youth Handbook, our online know-your-rights resource for youth experiencing homelessness, is devoted to helping youth navigate the difficult process of obtaining identification. This legislation is necessary to eliminate an enormous barrier youth and young adults face on their path to achieving safety and self-sufficiency.

What You Can Do:

  • Contact your Senator & Representative TODAY and ask them to co-sponsor all of the bills listed above.
  • Because elected officials get a lot of emails, follow-up with a phone call to ask whether the Senator or Representative will co-sponsor these bills.
  • If you see your Senator or Representative listed here as a sponsor of one of these bills, give them a call and thank them!
  • Click here to find your Senator and Representatives’ emails and phone numbers.
  • Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for opportunities to take action in support of these policies!

Massachusetts Appleseed is supporting a number of other bills that will disrupt the school-to-confinement pipeline, combat youth hunger, and prevent evictions. To see our full 2021-2022 legislative agenda, click here. Thank you for advancing social justice in Massachusetts!

 

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Family Separation is the Result of Mass. Department of Children and Families’ Violations of Statutory Language Access Rights, a New Study Finds

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 26, 2021

Media Contact:
Melanie Rush
Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice
melanie@massappleseed.org

BOSTON, MA – The Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice today released a report citing the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) for failing to provide federally mandated language access to limited English proficient (LEP) families involved with the agency. As a result, LEP parents cannot meaningfully comprehend or participate in the DCF process and subsequently face an increased likelihood of separation compared to their English-speaking counterparts.

“A lack of DCF investigators who speak a family’s language or dialect or are not completely fluent often leads to miscommunication about events and circumstances, which in turn can lead to erroneous conclusions about the family by DCF,” said Jessica R. Salinas-Thomas, Esq., an attorney with the Committee for Public Counsel Services who represents DCF-involved families. “… These problems can lead to a delayed reunification for a family or even the termination of a parent’s rights and a child’s loss of its family and community.”

The report examines the various ways in which the Department of Children and Families violates the civil language access rights of parents, the reasons for this systemic failure, and outlines steps that DCF, the Massachusetts Legislature, and the Massachusetts legal community should take to prevent the unjust separation of families and ensure the Commonwealth’s child welfare system complies with federal civil rights law.

“This research shows that even at the most basic level, DCF is failing to provide adequate language access, as well as the very real and irreparable harm LEP families consequently endure,” said Deborah Silva, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. “Because of the trauma and instability children separated from their parents experience, which can have a profound and devastating impact on their mental health, emotional development, and ability to succeed in school, it is urgent that we take action to address this now. We call on DCF and our state legislators to make the changes necessary to ensure and protect the civil rights of all Massachusetts families.”

The findings of this report show that child welfare decisions involving LEP parents are often unjustly impacted by language access. The report’s findings include:

  • Despite a few individual “superstar” caseworkers, the majority of LEP parents do not receive sufficient interpretation services, document translation services, or social services in their primary language.
  • A lack of competent and impartial interpretation plagues DCF casework; it is estimated that an interpreter is present in only 25% of the LEP home visits the agency conducts.
  • LEP families regularly do not receive Action Plans, letters, notices, and agreements translated into their primary languages.
  • Often LEP parents experience wait times double those that English-speaking parents face when trying to attend the social services (such as therapy, substance use disorder meetings, or parenting classes) that are mandated by DCF.

“Language-based discrimination denies families and workers across the state equal access to their own government and the services they need,” said State Representative Adrian Madaro (D-East Boston). “It has no place in the Commonwealth, and as Massachusetts Appleseed’s report shows, the destructive impact it has on families can be permanent. If Massachusetts is truly committed to the principles of fairness, equity, and justice, then we need to guarantee language access and inclusion for all.”

A new state bill developed by the statewide Language Access Coalition, of which Massachusetts Appleseed is a member, and championed by Representative Madaro and Senator Sal DiDomenico would help remedy this problem by strengthening and standardizing language access requirements for state agencies. But the Massachusetts Legislature, DCF, and the legal community must take additional steps laid out in the report, including:

  • Improved policies and practices at DCF, such as implementing language access trainings for DCF staff, prioritizing hiring bilingual staff, ensuring contracted interpreters are competent and impartial, and publicizing the process for making language access complaints.
  • Increased trainings for staff of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, who should strongly advocate for their LEP clients’ meaningful access to DCF services through all means available, including the submission of complaints, if necessary.
  • Statewide legislation that provides a right for individuals to sue state-level government entities for disparate impact discrimination.
  • The exploration of alternative legal strategies for enforcing the rights of LEP families, including but not limited to impact litigation.

Representatives Joan Meschino and Adrian Madaro intend to file a civil rights bill, entitled An Act to create access to justice, which would restore the right of an individual to bring a claim in state court against a government agency when policies have a disparate impact on individuals designated as a protected class under Massachusetts state law. In this instance, the rights and case outcomes of limited English proficient families and parents are compromised by the department’s failure to provide language access during proceedings and services.

“Disparate impact discrimination is discrimination, regardless of intent,” said State Representative Joan Meschino (D-Hull).  “Our bill, An Act to create access to justice, enfranchises those who are discriminated against to take legal action in defense of their civil rights.  Access to state courts is essential to safeguard the civil rights of Massachusetts families, and Representative Madaro and I look forward to introducing the bill in the coming weeks.”

“The day-to-day work of DCF caseworkers is hard, and the stakes are high,” said Thomas Roy, a court-appointed attorney representing indigent clients who has worked closely with DCF. “But ultimately, it’s about communicating effectively with parents, and when that doesn’t happen, families are the ones who bear the consequences which can include a termination of parental rights. The end of the legal relationship between parent and child, the equivalent of a death sentence to a family.”

The report, “Families Torn Apart: Language-Based Discrimination at the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families” is available online: https://massappleseed.org/reports/families-torn-apart/

About the Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice:

Massachusetts Appleseed’s mission is to promote equal rights and opportunities for Massachusetts residents by developing and advocating for systemic solutions to social justice issues. We research the ways in which the justice system, schools, and government agencies are systematically failing our most vulnerable residents. We collaborate with community partners to ensure that recommended plans of action are practical and comprehensive. We advocate for the implementation of solutions that will create lasting change.

 

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As Housing Protections End, Families Facing Eviction Need Legal Representation

Action Alert

Because the Massachusetts Legislature passed a temporary eviction and foreclosure moratorium in late April, thousands of families economically devastated by the pandemic have been able to stay in their homes. While that law provides Governor Baker the opportunity to extend the moratorium at increments of up to 90 days until 45 days after the State of Emergency is lifted, the Governor has publicly signaled that he plans to let these protections expire on October 17th. 

It is estimated that anywhere from 20,000 to 80,000 new evictions will occur when the moratorium expires! 

Massachusetts Appleseed has previously advocated for the creation of a Right to Counsel pilot program that could protect many of these renters from eviction and potentially homelessness once the moratorium ends. Initially, we asked for a pilot program that would allow nonprofit and legal aid organizations to offer representation within 5,000 eviction cases. 

But as the numbers of likely evictions continue to climb, addressing 5,000 cases is clearly not enough. The Right to Counsel Coalition has sent a letter to Governor Baker advocating for a comprehensive plan that ensures representation for tenants and landlords in 22,000 eviction cases. We need your help to make this happen before the eviction moratorium ends on October 17th!

 

What You Can Do

  1. Email Governor Baker and ask him to support S. 2785 to establish a COVID right to counsel pilot program, in addition to funding rental assistance.
  2. Call the Governor’s office TODAY (9 a.m. – 5 p.m.) and ask him to support S. 2785 to establish a COVID right to counsel pilot program, in addition to funding rental assistance. 
  • Main Office: 617-725-4005 
  • Toll-free: 888-870-7770
  • TTY: 617-727-3666

You can send Governor Baker an email like this: 

Dear Governor Baker,

Time is of the essence. Courts alone cannot handle the eviction crisis and protect people in our communities from being evicted. Massachusetts needs a comprehensive plan for tenants and homeowners to prevent mass eviction and we urge you to:
  1. Fund rental assistance to stabilize people’s housing and prevent homelessness.
  2. Adopt a framework to provide time, protection, and housing assistance to tenants, homeowners, and landlords to keep people housed.
  3. Implement a statewide right to counsel program to prevent eviction and preserve tenancies.

Tenants, landlords, municipal leaders, health care professionals, and advocates are worried about what will happen when the eviction moratorium ends. The CDC moratorium is not enough. We urge you to use COVID relief funding to prevent housing instability and keep Massachusetts residents safe. We need your leadership to get us through this. Thank you.

(Your name)

Send Governor Baker an email.

 

 

Our Response to COVID-19

From developing and sharing accessible legal resources in areas of urgent need to advocating for equitable policies to support those hit hardest by COVID-19 – there’s work to be done. Learn more about steps we’re taking to aid our most vulnerable communities during the pandemic and how you can help.

Our Response to COVID-19

 

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Action Needed Now for Right to Counsel!

Action Alert

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 93% of tenants facing eviction from their homes did not have lawyers, while 70% of landlords had representation. While the eviction moratorium ending October 17th protects many of these tenants for the time being, it is estimated that as many as 15,000-20,000 new evictions could be filed when the moratorium ends. Unless we take action, thousands of families – a significant majority of which are likely to be from communities of color – will be thrown into Housing Court on their own. Without any form of legal representation, these families are significantly less likely to remain in their homes. Action is needed now to protect these renters.  

A statewide Right to Counsel pilot program would allow non-profits to provide full legal representation in eviction proceedings for both tenants and landlords whose incomes do not exceed 200% of the federal poverty level. We now have two different opportunities to advance such a Right to Counsel pilot program within the legislature.  

  1. Senator DiDomenico has filed Amendment #175 for the creation of a Right to Counsel pilot program within S.2842, An Act Enabling Partnerships for Growth. This bill was debated in the House yesterday (Monday, July 27), and the Senate will start to debate its version of the bill tomorrow (Wednesday, July 29).  
  2. Senator DiDomenico also filed S.2785, An Act promoting housing stability and homelessness prevention through a right to counsel pilot program in Massachusetts in response to the COVID-emergency. This bill was reported favorably out of the Housing Committee and is still in Senate Ways and Means. We need to get it to the Senate floor. 

How You Can Help

  1. Call or email your Senator and ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor to Amendment #175 within S.2842. Send this fact sheet. Find your Senator here or with this list of Senators. 
  2. Contact Senate Ways and Means Chair Rodrigues to report S.2785 to the Senate floor. Call Senator Rodrigues’ office at (617) 722-1114 and email him at Michael.Rodrigues@masenate.gov and his staff attorney Jacob.Blanton@masenate.gov.  

You can send Chair Rodrigues a message like this:  

_____________________________ (who you are) and __________(why you care). We are bracing ourselves for tens of thousands of evictions when the eviction moratorium expires in October. Tenants are terrified of being evicted. 93% of tenants face eviction without legal representation. Alone – they are unable to navigate quick-moving deadlines and complicated court procedures. These procedures will be even more complicated as the court goes virtual. Providing legal representation is essential to housing stability. Providing lawyers for vulnerable tenants saves the state money. Providing lawyers prevents housing instability at a time when we need to keep people safe and housed. This is urgent. Pass Amendment #175 and Pass S. 2785. 

The legislative session may end this week! Time is of the essence and we need your voices now!  

 

 

Our Response to COVID-19

From developing and sharing accessible legal resources in areas of urgent need to advocating for equitable policies to support those hit hardest by COVID-19 – there’s work to be done. Learn more about steps we’re taking to aid our most vulnerable communities during the pandemic and how you can help.

Our Response to COVID-19

 

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Cell phone bans eliminated in all Massachusetts state courts!

Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice commends the Trial Court for Emergency Administrative Order 20-10, issued on June 24th 2020, which takes effect on July 13th and temporarily eliminates bans on the use of cell phones and other personal electronic devices (“PEDs”) inside all Massachusetts state courthouses. Our 2018 report, Cell Phones in the Courthouse: An Access to Justice Perspective, examined the disproportionate impact courthouse cell phone restrictions have on self-represented litigants and low-income court users. 
 
As that report demonstrated, many self-represented litigants need to use cell phones within the courtroom to display evidence, conduct legal research, or access language translation services. In addition, many court users require their cell phones to coordinate aspects of everyday life, such as ensuring proper childcare, obtaining transportation, or communicating with employers. Our report found that without access to these resources through their cell phones, self-represented litigants are placed at an even further disadvantage compared to litigants with attorneys. To fully correct the unintended consequences of these cell phone bans, Massachusetts Appleseed recommended that the Commonwealth adopt a universal permissive policy that allows cell phone use in courthouses statewide.
 
The Court’s Order temporarily eliminating all cell phone bans is a significant step towards that goal and has the potential to greatly expand access to justice in Massachusetts. We are extremely grateful to the Trial Court for this essential progress, but we urge the Trial Court to make this temporary change permanent in order to further increase self-represented litigants access to justice.

 

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