LSC's 2020 Innovations in Technology Conference

Many low-income people struggle with the collateral consequences of involvement with the criminal justice system. The stigma of a criminal record, as well as burdensome court debt, are root causes of poverty. Increasingly, LSC funded legal services programs have found creative ways to try to help their clients overcome these barriers. In 2017, Iowa Legal Aid developed the Criminal Records Spreadsheet (CRS). This spreadsheet automates much of the analysis for record clearance, court debt bankruptcy dischargeability, whether debtor’s exemptions apply, and how the client’s debt affects their ability to drive. The spreadsheet is based on Iowa law and principles laid out in NCLC’s 2016 treatise Confronting Criminal Justice Debt. The CRS has allowed Iowa Legal Aid to help many more clients with collateral consequences cases than before. In 2018, a partnership with Code For America added a web scraper interface for accessing court records, which exponentially increased the capacity of Iowa Legal Aid to do this work. Coders from Iowa Legal Aid & Code For America will discuss the project, the numerous barriers that had to be overcome, and how the project plans to expand in the future.