Functional legal literacy and the visibility paradox: A capability-based theory of crime disclosure

Abstract

Some higher-literacy jurisdictions report comparatively higher levels of recorded juvenile victimisation despite stronger educational and social indicators, giving rise to a visibility paradox that existing criminological theories only partially explain. While established perspectives account for vulnerability, opportunity structures, and institutional legitimacy, they offer only a limited explanation of how victimisation becomes visible in official records. This article argues that higher recorded crime in high-literacy contexts reflects enhanced disclosure capacity rather than higher underlying prevalence. To explain this dynamic, it develops the Functional Legal Literacy Capability Framework (FLL-CF). Functional Legal Literacy (FLL) is introduced here as a multidimensional socio-legal capability. Its conceptual components are developed systematically in Section 3. The framework contributes to criminological and socio-legal scholarship by theorising the transformation of private victimisation into institutionally recognised claims and by specifying the mechanisms through which disclosure generates visibility. Finally, the article proposes the Functional Legal Literacy Proxy Index (FLLPI) as a pathway for future empirical testing across jurisdictions. Drawing on criminological, socio-legal, and capability-based scholarship, the article advances FLL-CF as a mid-range theoretical intervention addressing the under-theorised problem of disclosure. By repositioning literacy as a mechanism of epistemic visibility, the article contributes to debates on reporting disparities, institutional engagement, and the production of crime data in the Global South.