Legal awareness of citizens and protection of their rights

The paper considers doctrinal approaches to the definition of the essence of legal consciousness and legal protection of citizens, as well as the place, role and importance of legal consciousness in the mechanism of protection of rights and freedoms of citizens from general theoretical positions.The conclusion is substantiated, according to which legal consciousness in the above mechanism includes awareness of the essence of law as a regulator of social relations, evaluation of law in the aspect of its social utility, understanding of the need for lawful behavior, compliance with the law and order, as well as the choice of means to protect the violated right, perception and comprehension of the results of the implementation of the right.Some ways and forms of optimizing the mechanism of implementation of the rights and freedoms of citizens are proposed.