Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Masyarakat (Community Legal Aid Institute), Tebet Timur Dalam VI E No 3, Jakarta, 12820, Indonesia.
USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health, University of Southern California, 2001 N Soto St, Los Angeles, USA.
BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2020 Mar 30;20(1):8. doi: 10.1186/s12914-020-00226-y.
All around the world, the paralegal program prepares members of marginalized communities to face the legal system. Having a common background with their clients and being capable of conducting flexible work, paralegals' role moves beyond enlarging the beneficiaries of legal aid to addressing intersectional issues around health-related rights. This study assesses the health and other impacts of paralegals recruited by Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Masyarakat (LBHM), a human rights organization which provides legal assistance and operates in Jakarta, Indonesia. The positive results these paralegals can bring in the specific context can contribute to the development of community-based paralegals elsewhere.
This mixed methods research was carried out in 2016-2018. In 2016, a quantitative survey was administered to LBHM-trained paralegals and a sub-set of paralegals who completed the survey were then also interviewed. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS, and, for the qualitative data, thematic analysis was conducted.
The paralegals make important contributions to health-related rights in four distinct ways. Firstly, most of the paralegals checked their clients' health in all stages of detention, especially regarding their drug dependency status and checking for signs of torture. Secondly, paralegals help clients to be more aware of their health-related rights, especially regarding their rights to obtain health services inside detention. Thirdly, paralegals can ensure that their clients obtain health services by taking medicines directly to the clients or encouraging the law enforcement agencies to refer the clients to health services. Lastly, in drug cases, paralegals help their clients to obtain alternative sentences besides imprisonment.
These four contributions verify the positive impacts paralegals, recruited from marginalized communities, can deliver for community members facing criminal justice processes. The shifting role of paralegals from merely an intermediary between clients and lawyers to champions of the health-related rights of their clients can happen as a result of adequate training, support, and networks with other agents in criminal justice system.
在世界各地，律师助理计划都在培养边缘化社区的成员来应对法律体系。由于与客户有着共同的背景并且能够灵活工作，律师助理的角色不仅扩大了法律援助的受益者，还解决了与健康相关权利相关的交叉问题。本研究评估了印度尼西亚雅加达的人权组织 Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Masyarakat (LBHM) 招募的律师助理对健康和其他方面的影响。这些律师助理在特定背景下产生的积极成果可以为其他地方的社区律师助理的发展做出贡献。
本混合方法研究于 2016 年至 2018 年进行。2016 年，对 LBHM 培训的律师助理进行了定量调查，并对完成调查的律师助理进行了部分访谈。使用 SPSS 分析定量数据，对定性数据进行主题分析。
律师助理通过以下四种方式为健康相关权利做出了重要贡献。首先，大多数律师助理在拘留的所有阶段检查客户的健康状况，尤其是检查他们的药物依赖状况并检查是否有酷刑迹象。其次，律师助理帮助客户更多地了解其健康相关权利，特别是在获取拘留内卫生服务方面的权利。第三，律师助理可以确保他们的客户通过直接将药物送到客户手中或鼓励执法机构将客户转介到卫生服务机构来获得卫生服务。最后，在毒品案件中，律师助理帮助他们的客户获得除监禁以外的替代判决。
这四个贡献验证了从边缘化社区招募的律师助理可以为面临刑事司法程序的社区成员带来的积极影响。律师助理的角色从客户与律师之间的中间人转变为客户健康相关权利的捍卫者，这可能是由于充分的培训、支持以及与刑事司法系统中其他代理人的网络联系所致。
