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9 J. Open Access L. 1 (2021)

handle is hein.journals/jopacc9 and id is 1 raw text is: Communicating the Law and Public Information to Vulnerable Audiences: Contexts and Strategies Editorial Chiara Fioravanti Institute of Legal Informatics and Judicial Systems (IGSG), Italian National Research Council Abstract. Vulnerable categories are the most affected by legal issues and at the same time the ones who face more barriers in accessing legal and public information. The contributions for this special issue of JOAL deal with this matter presenting reflections, methods and strategies that can help to overcome this situation. Keyword: Vulnerable audiences, Access to law, Access to public information, Web accessibility, Legal language, Easy-to-read, Visual communication, Legal design. 1. Introduction Today the law and its consequences impact all citizens and their activities and affect nearly every aspect of our lives, including health, employment, education, housing and entrepreneurship. For this reason, in the course of their lives the majority of people will find themselves faced with problems related to legal and justice issues, or even more commonly dealing with the procedures of the public administration. Legal and administrative matters are ubiquitous, they flow from daily life and are experienced by many every day (OECD, 2019). As a result of this, the possibility to access legal and administrative information is a fundamental factor in being able to manage legal and justice needs, to know your own rights and duties, and fully participate in society. For this to happen, however, it is not enough to guarantee concrete availability of the law, but it is necessary to ensure that every citizen has access to real knowledge and understanding of legal and administrative information (Tiberi and Ninatti, 2017). As the promulgator of laws, it is the government that has the primary duty to promote the rule of law (Doherty, 2020). Good legal communication from administrative bodies is therefore essential for public life to function at all levels. Unfortunately, legal texts often lack the clarity that a citizen would need to act upon that information. Its specific jargon marked by grammatical, lexical, and idiomatic characteristics makes official texts hard to comprehend for many people (Nuolijarvi and Stickel, 2016). This issue is a problem common to many countries, so much so that there have been founded international organizations, such as Plain Language Association International (PLAIN), Clarity International and the Center for Plain Language, that for years have been committed to promoting clear communication and plain legal language and which are represented in more than 30 countries. Even if legal needs are not exclusive to any category of citizen, some categories are disproportionately affected, leading to further disadvantage and inequality such as poor, marginalised and weak populations, including women, youth, disabled people, indigenous and migrant groups. These groups may experience additional legal needs and face extra barriers in accessing legal and justice services based on their socio- economic situation. There is, in fact, increasing evidence that disadvantaged groups are typically those that are most vulnerable to legal problems, resulting from additional burdens caused by these same circumstances. (OEDC, 2019). Surveys showed that legal problems cluster and are often the result of other problems. For example, a medical problem can lead to economic, social and legal problems (Currie, 2007). This vulnerable population could find themselves in situations or conditions that make it more difficult to access traditional communication and information systems or may find it harder than others to read and understand standard legal information.

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