Empowering young people through legal capability conference - IARS October 2009

Plenet joined the Independent Academic Research Studies (IARS) on 16th October to launch new research into young peoples' legal capabilities

Lord Bach, Secretary of State for Justice opened the conference. Delegates also welcomed Lewis Parle from IARS and David Gold CEO at Glimmer of Hope Foundation who provided a funder’s perspective.

About the research

'Measuring young peoples' legal capability' - a youth-led study concluded that many marginalised young people:

•Were unaware of legal entitlements under the civil and criminal justice system.

•Didn't recognise when they were dealing with a law-related issue, and didn’t know where and how to get help with their problems.

•Lacked basic written and oral communication skills to deal effectively with law-related issues, and struggled to manage the emotional effects, including feelings of distress, isolation and anger.

Research recommendations

•Strengthen and expand provision of public legal education for young people both within and outside of schools.

•Provide a clear focus for improving the communication skills of young people in the context of law-related issues through youth led programmes.

•Ensure that PLE activities address the barriers young people face in receiving services, this includes providing outreach services, supporting trusted helpers through intermediary training and recognising the emotional issues that young people face.

Key messages from speakers

•Basic levels of legal capability are needed by all young people, but are especially vital to improving the lives of the most marginalised. PLE is a missing link for young people to effectively access other legal help.

•Providing young people with legal capability needs to address issues such as literacy, skills, trust and confidence, locality (outreach work) and so collaboration with a range of services to meet the diverse needs is vital.

•Funding into youth-led PLE programmes needs to be prepared to take risks and invest in innovative approaches.

•PLE is an important aspect of prevention work; but the focus needs to be around the civil law.

At the end of the conference there was an exchange of ideas. We have prepared a summary of some of them: Empowering young people Ideas Exchange (70 KB)

You can find more about the research is under Towards a baseline for legal capability .
Copy of the research: Measuring young people's legal capability .

Plenet and IARS promised to keep delegates posted about the progress of IARS's new 'Young Justice Champions' project delivering PLE to young people.