12. Legal Counsel's Impact on Eviction Case Outcomes in Dallas County

Evictions yield persistent and severe health, social, educational, employment, and financial consequences. Unlike criminal or civil court proceedings, evictions are ruled over by a Justice Court in Texas, with fewer tenant protections like court recordings or a right to counsel. Many "right to counsel" (RTC) campaigns for eviction defense in major US cities have used pilot programs as evidence for the positive effect that universal access to counsel could potentially have. The pilot program in Dallas, Texas, has seen positive effects of representing eviction tenants in Dallas County. Using records of representation supplied by the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center (DEAC) along with Dallas County Court docket data, the authors found evidence that DEAC representation is associated with a 3.81 times higher odds of receiving an Appealed case status and 8.29 times higher odds of a Dismissed case status compared to an unfavorable Judgment case status, relative to no representation.

Evictions 

Mid-Level

Influence

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