Statz: Grief, Moral Injury, and Institutional Loss in Rural Courts
In A World-Threatening Feeling: Grief, Moral Injury, and Institutional Loss in Rural Courts, author Michele Statz (Minnesota Medical School, Minnesota Law) examines how technologies first implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic continue to reshape rural judicial systems. Statz argues these tools contribute to a loss of connection between rural judges, attorneys, court staff, and parties, undermining the sense of purpose many rural practitioners once felt in their work.
Technologies initially viewed as temporary pandemic necessities are now used to expand access to justice and as cost savings measures, often driven by urban judicial powers. Statz questions whether this shift overlooks the importance of connection in rural state court and Tribal courts where place-based relationships are central to justice delivery. Rather than strengthening access to justice, remote technologies may be diminishing the quality of the justice delivered.
Using a mixed methodology approach, including qualitative interviews with rural judges and practitioners in state courts and Tribal courts across the upper Midwest, Statz uncovers the impacts of this loss of connection. Judges are facing rising numbers of self-represented litigants with complex needs while struggling to connect through the screen. Limited access to rural health care, mental health care, and depressed local economies compound these problems. Urban based attorney support programs which focus on individualized struggles rather than the systemic struggles that are part of the rural context are not meeting the needs of rural practitioners. These challenges are characterized as the institutional loss of the physical space and emotional connection of rural courts. This in turn causes grief and moral injury for practitioners, which occurs when experiencing a system or witnessing acts which transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.
The judges, attorneys, court staff, and parties dealing with institutional loss and grief in the post-COVID age are adjusting to a new dynamic in rural state and Tribal courts. Statz emphasizes the need for support for these individuals who are experiencing a loss of meaning and purpose in their work beyond what is often dismissed as “stress” or “burnout.” Her work also underscores the necessity of acknowledging the role of connection within these rural institutions and of recognizing the feelings of grief that accompany the collective loss of this connection.
For related work by Statz on these important themes see here , here, and here. Readers may also wish to see this reflection from one of the rural judges who previously served as an informant for some of Statz’s research.
