ABSTRACT
Residents of several US states have been surveyed about their legal rights, and related issues such as police powers. Knowledge tends to be poor, particularly, as Sarat, 1977, points out, for civil issues, rather than criminal justice, but even for the latter, members of the public appear to know little. Public awareness of the powers of the state is not any greater than awareness of the rights of the individual. In Canada, most members of the public do not know which level of government is responsible for criminal justice. According to a 1992 poll, almost two-thirds of the public believed that the federal government had the primary responsibility for the administration of criminal justice, when in fact provincial governments hold this responsibility. Little research has been conducted on public awareness of the defenses available to people charged with crimes. However, some research on the insanity defense provides a good example of how the public hold strong views.
