7. Anticipated Legal Problems

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If a person reported not having experienced any legal problems in the past 12 months, they were then asked about problems they anticipate arising in the upcoming 12 months. The sample size for this section is small; only 243 respondents reported not having experienced any legal problems and thus answered the following questions.

Slightly more than half of the respondents in this section anticipate experiencing a legal problem in the coming 12 months.

Participants were then asked if they would take action if a problem arose. Nine out of ten people anticipate that they would indeed take action. However, as demonstrated in the previous section on action, only six out of ten people who actually experienced a problem in the previous year took action, suggesting that intention does not always translate into action.

Regarding the types of legal problems these respondents anticipate, the majority expect problems related to access to health, pensions, education, and public services. This reveals a difference between the problems people actually experience and the problems they expect to encounter.

IDPs overwhelmingly think they will encounter more problems with land; public order and armed conflict; neighbour disputes; debt and money; and domestic violence. Non-IDPs believe they will face more problems related to access to health, pensions, education and public services; employment; and traffic.
Women tend to foresee more access to health, pensions, education and public services problems. Men foresee more neighbour disputes.
If a problem arises, most people anticipate that they will negotiate directly with the other party. Those who did report a problem in the previous year mainly reported going to acquaintances for help, which here falls quite low on the list. Meaning, that while most people do not expect to go to an acquaintance when they have a legal problem, in reality, this is where they end up seeking help most often.
Within the WhatsApp sample group, men and IDPs most commonly anticipate going to a public authority for help. In comparison, in the Social Media sample group, women and non-IDPs most commonly anticipate negotiating directly with the other party.

Responses regarding anticipated problems begin to give some insights into the divergence between people’s actual justice journeys and anticipated justice journeys. Conducting an annual eJNS survey would allow for a deeper understanding of these differences, making it possible to compare the problems and anticipated journeys with those that actually occur.