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I know my rights: I live on a council estate

28th Aug 2014
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This is an article written by a bright young man, who H4L met through a  Lawcentre.

He would like to be a journalist, so we publish this with very great pleasure:

I know my rights! … Or do I

It’s the old cliché often chanted viciously towards the law, particularly directly at the law enforcers and that in many cases is the seemingly ‘plagued’ police. “I know my rights!” is exclaimed as the law seems to unfairly clamp down on self-proclaimed victims but it begs the question after often, a valiant resistance concludes in a tireless submission; how well do people know their rights?

I come from a council estate and this whole topic is quite interesting locally. Just from general conversations with a diverse range of people, you gage that a lot of young residents have what can be perhaps deemed, as an advance knowledge of how the law works. This was due to the fact that the young people who I spoke to had encountered problems with the law or were aiming to circumvent the law for the ‘greater good’. What is interesting is those unoffending residents suffer from a deprived knowledge of the law and that’s because they don’t feel the need to know about it, but should they?

There are many growing organisations, with the likes of Help4LiPs and the YPLS based at the Brent Community Law Centre that offer information and advice. There are evident improvements being made in this regard but you often wonder if more could be done for people to better understand their rights. The government would surely point you in the direction of a library should you make a compelling complaint but not everybody likes to read and the books about the law are not exactly enticing; they are Harry Potter huge!

Perhaps when people shout out “I know my rights” in their courageous declaration of battle against the law, they should have in their ammunition the ability to quote: sections of the law, acts of the law and even reputable cases! How cool would it be if you actually did know your rights and won against the law; think about it! But until then, question yourself: do you have the real right to claim that you know your rights?

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