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Number of legal events reported

The participants were asked about legal events they had experienced in the 12 months prior to the survey. Overall, the 2431 participants across the six LGAs reported experiencing a total of 5776 legal events in the 12-month period. The maximum number of legal events reported by any individual was 33.

Almost one-third of participants (752 or 30.9%) reported that they did not experience any legal events during the reference period (see Figure 3.1). The remaining two-thirds (1679 or 69.1%) reported experiencing at least one legal event during the reference period, with approximately one-third of all participants reporting either one or two legal events, and one-third reporting three or more legal events. The average number of legal events reported across all 2431 participants was 2.4, while the median number was 1.0. The average number of legal events reported by the 1679 participants who reported at least one event was 3.4.

Figure 3.1: Number of events reported per participant, all six LGAs, 2003

Note: N=2431 participants.

Table 3.1 presents a cumulative frequency distribution of legal events. It can be seen that a minority of participants accounted for a disproportionate number of the legal events reported. For example, the third of participants who reported three or more legal events accounted for more than three-quarters (79.0%) of the 5776 legal events reported. Less than one-quarter of the sample (23.9%) accounted for two-thirds of the events (67.5%) and about one-sixth of the sample (16.4%) accounted for over half the events (54.9%).

Table 3.1: Cumulative frequency distribution of legal events, all six LGAs, 2003

No. of events reported per participant	Participants			Events
	No.	Cumulative %		No.	Cumulative %
16+	16	0.7		308	5.3
15	6	0.9		90	6.9
14	7	1.2		98	8.6
13	10	1.6		130	10.8
12	14	2.2		168	13.7
11	17	2.9		187	17
10	29	4.1		290	22
9	30	5.3		270	26.7
8	41	7		328	32.4
7	45	8.8		315	37.8
6	71	11.8		426	45.2
5	112	16.4		560	54.9
4	182	23.9		728	67.5
3	221	32.9		663	79
2	337	46.8		674	90.6
1	541	69.1		541	100
0	752	100		0
Total	2431			5776