  The spin Hall (SH) effect is a phenomenon in which the spin current flows
perpendicular to an applied electric field and causes the spin accumulation at
the boundaries. However, in the presence of spin-orbit couplings, the spin
current is not well defined. Here, we calculate the spin response to an
electric-field gradient, which naturally appears at the boundaries. We derive a
generic formula using the Bloch wave functions and the phenomenological
relaxation time. We also calculate the response for the uniform Rashba model
with $\delta$-function nonmagnetic disorder within the first-order Born
approximation and corresponding vertex corrections. We find the nonzero spin
accumulation, although the SH conductivity exactly vanishes.
