So What Is Street Law Anyway – A U.S. Perspective
This article briefly explores the current problems surrounding young people's knowledge, skills and engagement in the civic life of the democracy in the United States and the contributions that public legal education or civic learning[1] can make to improving youth engagement as members of a democracy. The article will acknowledge the contribution made by the law-related education movement of the 1950s. More specifically, the article will explore the history of a law school based program - Street Law -- that describes the most important way that law schools in the United States contribute to civic learning. Finally, the article will reveal the actual source of the term "Street Law" and the ongoing impact that Street Law has on the young people and the law students who teach it.[1] I will use the term "civic learning," instead of public-legal education, which is the more common term in Washington State and in many other states in the U.S.
