The Public Legal Education Network (Plenet), a UK organisation established to continue building the body of knowledge of what makes for successful public legal education, has released research which showed that nearly two-thirds of the 10,000 nationally representative surveyed people do not know their rights and almost 70% have no knowledge of basic legal processes.
Entitled 'Knowledge, Capability and the Experience of Rights Problems', the report was commissioned by Plenet and carried out by the Legal Services Research Centre. Among its findings, the research showed that the poor and vulnerable are the most disadvantaged when it comes to knowing and enforcing rights. In commenting on the report, Plenet's
Development Manager outlined that while there is already work being done to educate and engage the public on legal issues, focus is needed on where will have the most impact, with a need to look at "how low levels of legal capability relate to the way different people handle legal issues".
To view the report in full, please follow the link http://www.plenet.org.uk/data/files/knowledge-capability-and-the-experience-of-r ights-problems-lsrc-may-2010-255.pdf.