The Legal Problems of Everyday Life - The Nature, Extent and Consequences of Justiciable Problems Experienced by Canadians

Figure 13: Problem Outcomes By Number of Years Since Problem Began

Figure 13 is a line graph that illustrates the proportion of problems that resulted in specific outcomes according to the number of years since the problem began. There are 3 different coloured lines on the chart representing resolved, on-going and abandoned problems. The x-axis displays the number of years that had elapsed since the problem began : one year, two years, three years and four years or more. Note that this is not a survival analysis. The categories on the x-axis are mutually exclusive (the problems represented in the “one year” category occurred within one year of the survey date whereas the problems represented in the “two year” category occurred between a year and two years of the survey date). The y-axis represents the percentage of problems within each category (one year, two years, etc) that resulted in each outcome (resolved, on-going, abandoned). It ranges from 0 to 70. The line representing resolved problems starts at 40.8% (representing the proportion of problems that occurred within a year of the survey that were resolved) and increases moderately until it reaches its peak at the three year level (57.8%), declining slightly at the four year level (55.2%). The line representing on-going problems starts at 49.5% and decreases until it reaches its lowest point (29%) at the three year level, increasing slightly at the four year level (34.5%). The line representing abandoned problems starts at 6.5%, increasing very slightly until it hits its peak at the three year level (10.6%), decreasing slightly at the four year level (7%).