Public Legal Awareness Survey Research

Abstract

Ⅰ. Background and Purpose □ Background of This Research ○ Recently, the amendment of legislation and the achievement of the rule of law to the social, cultural, and economic levels have become an issue in Korea. Thus, the validity of the legal system, in accordance with the levels of legal awareness among the public, should be strengthened. ○ As Korea transitions from a developing to a developed nation, an advanced rule of law is necessitated that harmonizes the national legal system and legal awareness of the public. □ Purpose of This Research ○ This research, previously conducted by Korea Legislation Research Institute, aims to consider the change of legal awareness among the public through the chronological analysis of the public legal awareness and the analysis of previous studies regarding the major issues in the national legal system to evaluate the development of legal awareness among the public. ○ Specifically, the 2015 Public Legal Awareness Survey Research aims to lay the foundation to improve the national legal system and to establish an advanced rule of law, in accordance with social, cultural and economic levels in Korea, based on the scientific understanding of the legal awareness among the public and its development by applying new indices of the public legal awareness.

Ⅱ. Main Contents □ Findings of Survey about Development in Society and the Public’s Values ○ The ratio of the responses in which both parents are involved in family decision making is steadily increasing. Furthermore, the response has been overwhelming in that women are not discriminated in decision-making at the household level. Most of the respondents believe that gender discrimination against women in family decision making results from a patriarchal culture. ○ In regard to the incentive system for military service, the ratio of advocates for the system is overwhelmingly high. Many of the respondents believe that the underprivileged are mistreated in society, which is triggered by the lack of social support or the government’s attention. ○ Many of the respondents consider the legal system to be authoritative. ○ The number of people who consider the legal system to be beneficial is relatively larger in the 60 and over age group. ○ Many respondents receive information about the legal system by media; from the chronological perspective, however, the ratio of the respondents who receive information via the Internet is steadily increasing. ○ Regarding the degree to which they are informed about the contents of a contract, the number of people who read the contracts has become higher than those who do not read it, but the ratio of people who read the contract carefully tends to decrease. ○ As for a question regarding the degree to which they abide by laws, the degree of law-abidingness on the individual level is shown to be substantially higher than that on the social level. With regard to the reason why people do not abide by laws, the respondents feel that they are disadvantaged when abiding by laws. ○ As for the manner in which people deal with purchased defective products, the ratio of the responses in which defective items are exchanged to their satisfaction is similar to that of the responses in which no action is taken after purchase. □ Findings of Survey about the Current Legal System and Changes of the Public Legal Awareness ○ Many respondents believe that the law school system is ineffective, whereas the jury system is relatively successful. ○ Many respondents are against the death penalty, but support euthanasia; from the chronological perspective, the ratio of supporters are not substantially different. ○ Many respondents believe that labor-management relations laws are not observed, which is attributable to business owners or employers. For corporations which cause environmental pollution, many believe that more stringent regulations should be mandated. ○ Many believe that irregular worker protection laws are unsuccessful. The respondents, who believe that these laws are unsuccessful, are students, the unemployed, and other groups. ○ Regarding the abolishment of the adultery law, there is much objection. Furthermore, women are against the abolishment more than men. ○ Many support the law punishing those engaged in prostitution, to which the proportion of women is larger than men in favor of the law. ○ Regarding the introduction of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act (better known as the Kim Young Ran Act) many believe that the law is successful. □ To fully quantify and understand the public legal awareness, the public legal awareness indicators (30 survey questions in 6 factors) are developed and the outcomes are as follows: ○ The 2015 public legal awareness indices are slightly above the average. Among the six factors of the public legal awareness indices, the index for the preservation of human rights is the highest, followed by the index for interest in law, then the index for the validity of law, and lastly, the index for the legal awareness and sentiment. The indices for observance of law and for the enactment and execution of law are relatively lower than any other index. ○ The 2015 public legal awareness indices, for people fifty (50) years old and older are ten (10) points higher than those forty (40) years old and younger. The indices are relatively higher in groups with lower levels of education, relatively larger communities, the married compared to the unmarried, respectively. □ The 2015 public legal awareness survey research leads to the consideration of changes in the public awareness in accordance with the changes of legislation through the previous chronological approaches and the analysis of issues related to the current legal system. Developing and utilizing the public legal awareness indices assists to provide strategies for improving the standards of the national legal system through the scientific and systematic analysis of the public awareness. ○ The questions related to the chronological analysis and the legislation issues have limitations and can be affected by unforseen variables that occur, domestically and internationally, in Korea. ○ The public legal awareness indices have the following limitations: - As the public legal awareness is quantified, the issues related to the degree of accuracy and reliability for the quantified value can occur. - The indices cannot be compared to other surveys.

Ⅲ. Expected Effect □ These findings can be used as basic data to amend national legislations and regulations, and to promote an advanced rule of law. □ Futhermore, the findings may assist the government in policy-making for the realistic implementation of the national legal system and to strengthen the validity of the legal system.