Young Justice Champions Project

What is "Public Legal Education"?

"Public legal education (PLE) equips people with the knowledge, skills and the confidence needed to successfully resolve problems encountered in day to day life. PLE focuses on the early stages of a problem and sets out to help people avoid law-related problems, act more quickly when problems do occur and deal with issues more effectively including knowing when and where to get expert help." (PLENET website)

IARS' New Film on Public Legal Education:

IARS releases a new film on young people's legal capability ahead of Director Dr. Theo Gavrielides' trip to Canada in October 2010, where he  highlighted IARS' experience of delivering public legal education activities to young people in the UK.

The film explores how young people see and deal with law related problems and how IARS' youth-led public legal education programmes help address the challenges they face.

For the full story covering this please click here. 

For the direct YouTube video link please click here

December 2010 Update:

A total of 12 young people took part in the training session: Active Young Citizens on the 11th December 2010. 

This module aims to promote a sense of belonging by exploring the concept of citizenship from the youth perspective through a set of reflective, team building exercises. The training programme also aims to give participants an understanding of the principles underpinning the UK constitution.

The group of young people took part in learning activities, group work, advocacy training as well as looking at the letter of the law itself. The day was full of lively discussion and feedback from the training was excellent. 

September 2010:

As part of its public legal education work for the Young Justice Champions Project, IARS has been invited by Educaloi to present its findings at anational conference in Montreal, Canada. The conference titled "Plan Language & the Law: how it concerns you" will focus on the subject Explaining the Law to Others: Message Received… and Understood! It will take place on October 21st and 22nd at the Centre Mont-Royal in Montreal.

Lawyers, notaries, judges, commissioners, legislative drafters, linguists, journalists and communicators will mull over the many facets of legal plain language. The conference aims to push forward thinking and practices in the field of PLE worldwide.

Dr. Theo Gavrielides will present the IARS findings on public legal education with young people. Following our research report "Measuring Young People's Legal Capability" with the support of A Glimmer of Hope Foundation and our partnerPleNet , we have developed a training programme offering basic legal tools to young people. Our work focuses on the empowerment of the most marginalised sections of young people, and includes modules such as employment law and housing rights, human rights, stop & search, domestic violence and consumer rights. For more information on our skills development programme click here

IARS' presentation will be complemented with evidence presented by the Ontario Justice Education Network. The session titled "Preparing the citizens of tomorrow through public legal education" will also feature a film prepared by IARS' young people. This will evidence the views of IARS young people who have been involved in the Young Justice Champions Project.

For more information on the project please contact Lewis Parle, Programme Director or Dr. Theo Gavrielides, IARS Director.

August 2010

The next cohort of young people to enroll in the Young Justice Champions Training Project are nearly ready to begin their training in September. A small number of places are still available. To find out more please e-mail a.martey@iars.org.uk

July 2010 update

IARS' YJCP will now be delivered by IARS' newly recruited Training and Accreditation Co-ordinataor, Alastair Martey. He will be moving ahead with training a second cohort of young people in August/September. The training programme will focus on: citizenship, police powers, employment law and housing law, all specially designed to be delivered to young people aged 16-25.

To refer young people to get involved with the training programme please contact Alastair for more details a.martey@iars.org.uk

June 2010 update:

The YJCP training programme has had its first pilot with 8 young people aged 16-22. IARS is currently looking for more young people aged 16-25 to take part in the pilot of this training programme. For further details about the programme or how to get involved please contact Lewis on l.parle@iars.org.uk

February 2010 Update:

On the 26th February IARS will train 12-15 young people in Police Powers. 

This module aims to develop young people’s knowledge, skills and attitudes so that they have a better understanding of the criminal justice system and are better equipped to handle and make sense of encounters with the police.

Places are still available on this modular one day training for young people aged 16-25. For more informationclick here.