• On the basis of the police’s comments and concerns, the format of the Letter of Rights was revised with the help of a plain language expert and a graphic designer. The objective was to ensure that police would be able to print the Letter of Rights in police stations in A4 format. The Letter of Rights was created both in colour and in black and white. The content of the Letter of Rights remained similar, but was slightly amended in the course of further discussion with the police. • In 2022, a working group comprising the Ministry of Justice, Bar associations representatives, magistrates, the federal and local police, a plain language expert and Fair Trials was created to pilot the alternate Letter of Rights in several police stations in order to evaluate its impact on the effectiveness of procedural rights. They are regularly meeting up to organise the practical aspects of the pilot that should kick off in the following months. • Discussions are ongoing between the local police, the Ministry of Justice, bar associations and Fair Trials to pilot the new Letter of Rights in order to evaluate its impact on the effectiveness of procedural rights. The success of this project lies in the fact that all stakeholders were empowered with training on plain language and involvement in redrafting the Letter of Rights from the beginning. Consensus between various stakeholders around the need for a new Letter of Rights and on the language used was steadily built from the inception of the project. Although the project comes from a private initiative (Fair Trials’ and plain language experts), members of the working group, and later the police themselves, became invested in the project and advocated for change. There are, however, a number of remaining challenges. While a plain language Letter of Rights would facilitate comprehension for most suspected and accused persons, the language obstacle remains. It is thus necessary to make sure the document is translated into as many languages as possible and that interpreters are present in custody if necessary. Similarly, the special needs of children and persons in vulnerable situations (persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities, blind or illiterate persons etc.) still need to be considered. Police officers and lawyers need to ensure that they understand their rights. In order to do so, it could be envisaged that the Letter of Rights is adapted to their specific situations. Another way could be to use simple and interactive videos to convey information on rights. Moreover, as the project comes from a private initiative (Fair Trials’ and plain language experts), the redrafted Letter of Rights is undergoing a long process of consultations and piloting until it can be approved and used in police stations. Promising practices from the Netherlands, Scotland and Spain: Making the information on rights available in a child-friendly manner In the Netherlands, a plain version of the Letter of Rights especially designed for children is available and in use.56 The appendix to the information sheet “You are suspected of criminal office” contains pictograms and easy to understand information. The documents were developed by the Ministry of Justice and Security and published in March 2022. 56. See <https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/brochures/2017/03/03/je-wordt-verdacht-van-een-strafbaar-feit-engels> accessed on 9 December 2022. 20 In Scotland, reforms stem from public initiatives. Following the introduction of an updated Letter of Rights in January 2018, the Scottish Government launched a public consultation in 2019 to ensure its content, structure and language was accessible for all.57 They received responses from organisations and individuals, who sometimes perceived the Letter of Rights as lacking clarity or containing conflicting information.58 The Government then established a Working Group of key stakeholders (the police, prosecutors, lawyers, government representatives, and representatives from several NGOs) and linguistic experts, to advance reforms so that the Letter of Rights would properly capture the opinions expressed through the consultation process.59 The Working Group discussed the possibility of producing a separate version of the Letter of Rights for children and young people alongside the standard letter that had been discussed. Previously, initiatives to provide children and young people with information on rights, for example in the form of a short and accessible guide, had already been developed by the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice.60 In Spain, as results of the “Let´s be clear” project, the University of Castilla – La Mancha in cooperation with UCLM, Grupo de Investigacion en Criminologia y Delincuencia Juvenil and JusTo developed an information package for each step of custody for children. Each package includes the following explanations: Who is Who - What will happen - My rights in clear. Each document exists in three formats: Comic, Video/ Audiovisual version and in written.61 The plain language tools and documents are currently not used in practice. The Civil Guards are considering to use it on the national level. While there is no empirical study or assessment of the usage of the video amd comic in police stations, the documents were shown to children who could provide feedback in the development stage. A general assessment of the tools in practice would be considered as useful, also to assess the benefits for the police and other stakeholders. Moreover, the videos and comics could be used in schools as educational materials. Promising practices from Ireland: Making the Letter of Rights accessible for persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities In Ireland there are initiatives on the collaborative development through multidisciplinary and advocate consensus of an accessible notice of rights for people with intellectual disabilities in police custody.62 The current initiative includes police officers from different ranks, representatives of people with disabilities, speech and language therapists, experts in communication, psychologists, ethicists, legal academics (specialist in evidence, professor of law), 3 people with intellectual disabilities. This research shows that persons with intellectual disabilities react best to pictures of real people instead of cartoons. In a best-case scenario, it should be a coloured picture. Moreover, information cannot be provided in isolation, and needs to consist of a two-way explanation, e.g. an explanation by the officer and a video/audio explanation. It has to be recognized that shortening the notification or Letter of Rights in itself is not sufficient to make it more accessible; rather the opposite is true if drafting accessible information for persons with intellectual disabilities. Consequently, the revised Letter of Rights is even 57. See <https://consult.gov.scot/justice/letter-of-rights-for-scotland/> accessed on 9 December 2022. 58. See <https://consult.gov.scot/justice/letter-of-rights-for-scotland/consultation/published_select_respondent> accessed on 9 December 2022. 59. See <https://www.gov.scot/groups/letter-of-rights-for-scotland-working-group/> accessed on 9 December 2022. 60. See <https://www.cycj.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/CYCJ-Know-Your-Rights-Guide-WEB.pdf> accessed on 9 December 2022. 61. See <https://www.uclm.es/grupos/crimijov/transferencia/hablemos-claro> accessed on 9 December 2022. 62. Gautam Gulati and others (2022) p 2. 21