Promising practices on the right to information vulnerable situations of their rights,31 and these persons report similar difficulties in understanding the information provided to them in criminal proceedings, as it is not adapted to their particular needs.32 In some jurisdictions, it is further not clearly regulated to whom the provisions apply and when, or their needs only have to be taken account if the person is arrested.33 These factors prevent those persons from being provided with their rights under the Directives and from effectively taking part in criminal proceedings. For example, research conducted in Ireland shows that 1 in 3 people in Irish prisons have an intellectual disability.34 In addition, a study with participants from almost all universities in Ireland showed challenges and barriers for equal access to law in the following areas:35 • • • • Recognition of disabilities: Even highly trained professional may find it hard to determine whether a person has an intellectual disability (ID), which results in serious challenges in practice, also during police custody. Communication: There is systematic lack of training in communication, while communication is key. Information: There is no accessible format for persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities. Support: Responsible Adult Safeguards exist, but there is no data on how they are implemented, how often they are used etc. In the next section promising practice examples will be displayed that were implemented in reaction to the identified regional challenges. The practices themselves or the way they were put in place are promising Promising practice from Austria Description of the practice The concrete example illustrated in this factsheet concerns a computer-assisted legal instructions tool aiming to support police officers in the oral notifications of rights. The tool is called New Generation PAD (“Protokollierungssystem: Protokollieren, Anzeigen, Daten”). The New Generation PAD provides relevant legal text with a corresponding explanation in simple and accessible language, including information about the defendants’ right to defend themselves or to remain silent and not incriminate themselves. There are up to four instances in which suspects should be informed about their rights according to Austrian law: (a) the protocol of arrest (only in cases of arrest); (b) the Letter of Rights (only in cases of detention); (c) the summons for questioning and (d) the notification before the interview. Consequently, the police officer documents the defendant’s answer for each right and only then may the questioning start. Benefits The New Generation PAD attempts to improve the accessibility of the information provided to suspect and accused persons as well as set up a mechanism to ensure that procedural rights are understood. Although there was no clear consensus and several stakeholders also pointed at the remaining challenges (see below, 4.1.4), this research has identified the following aspects as overall beneficial. 31. Ed Lloyd-Cape (2018) p 41, which was confirmed by all respondents to Fair Trials’ regional survey, who indicated that in their country of practice, there was no version of the Letter of Rights adapted to adults with language disorders or mental disabilities. 32. FRA, ‘Rights of suspected and accused persons across the EU: translation, interpretation and information‘ (2016) p 96 <https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2016-right-to-information-translation_en.pdf> accessed on 9 December 2022. 33. Commission Implementation Report. 34. Gautam Gulati and others, ‘Intellectual disability in Irish prisoners: systematic review of prevalence’ (2018) 14(3) IJPH 188. 35. Gautam Gulati and others, ‘Challenges for people with intellectual disabilities in law enforcement interactions in Ireland; thematic analysis informed by 1537 person-years’ experience‘ (2021) 75 IJLP <https://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/S0160252721000121> accessed on 9 December 2022. 14 The New Generation PAD facilitated the work of police officers in several ways: • • • It unified all modules for different kinds of police work into one system; It contains not only the relevant information on the legal provisions, but also an explanation in accessible language that police officers need to read out load to suspects;36 It includes additional information, links and documents (such as a Letter of Rights) that can be easily accessed by police officers. 36. Gerrit Zach, Nora Katona and Moritz Birk (2018) p 52. 15