Transcript Presentation

Factsheets on defendants' rights
CCBE project funded by the
European Commission
Jonathan Goldsmith
Secretary General, CCBE
Ivo Thiemrodt
Legal Officer, European Commission
Lindsay Paterson
Project Manager, CCBE
Summary of project
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Produce a set of factsheets which will appear on the ejustice portal in all EU languages
Factsheets aimed at ordinary citizens who want to
know more about their rights in criminal matters
Factsheets should also be of use to lawyers but they
are not the main target audience
Factsheets must be easy to read and understand
Factsheets are not about describing the provisions of
the law, but about describing rights and their context
Writing style
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NOT writing for lawyers but for ordinary citizens
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NOT writing a legal text book but a guide to rights
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Think of the ordinary client and aim the information at them
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Think about the questions people from other Member States
would have
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Use short sentences and paragraphs
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Use 'you'
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Do not go into detail – don't explain why, just explain rights
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See 'List of Links' for good external examples
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No latin, no difficult legal terminology
Examples of writing style
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English translations must score 45 or more on the Flesh scale.
The court duty solicitor scheme allows a person that has
already been charged with an offence to consult with and be
represented by a solicitor at the Magistrates' Court on their
first appearance if they do not have, or simply have not
contacted, their own solicitor. The right to see the duty
solicitor applies equally to those defendants who are in
custody or on bail, but the right is not unlimited – if the
defendant is on bail and is charged with an offence that
does not carry a sentence of imprisonment the duty solicitor
is not permitted to act.
Flesh score...20 =) not acceptable language. Too
complex
Examples of writing style
If you don't have a solicitor or don't know how to contact one, you
can be represented in court by the duty solicitor. You have a
right to see the duty solicitor whether you are in custody or not.
However you can only see the duty solicitor if you have been
charged with an offence which is serious enough for you to be
sent to prison if you are found guilty.
You can only ask for advice from the duty solicitor once for each
crime that you have been charged with.
Flesh score = 60 =) OK
Difference – short sentences, simple language. Easy to read and
understand.
Template – general points
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Difficult to produce one document which covers all legal
systems well
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Template is a guide to style and content
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Template sets out what rights MUST be covered
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Where they are covered may vary between countries
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Rely on you as experts to make it fit your jurisdiction
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Keep to the factsheet structure and headings
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Keep to the style
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Instructions in blue are for you
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Instructions in red are to site manager – repeat them in your
version
Template – general points
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Use Questions as headings
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Answer questions in paragraph form
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Use the bullets below as a guide to what to write
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Do not write in bullet points unless you are writing a list
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The bullet points in the template are questions to be answered
not sub- headings
Example
Template says:
Where will the trial be held?
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Which court will hear the case?
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Will the trial be in public?
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Who will decide the case...judge, jury etc.
Write
Where will the trial be held?
Most criminal cases are heard in the Magistrates' Court. However
if the case is serious, like a murder, serious assault, or rape, or
a financial crime involving large sums of money, then it will be
held in the High Court. The trial will be in public and will be
decided by a judge.....etc.....
Word counts
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Word counts are critical for presentation and translation
Each factsheet must be no longer than 4 pages with 1500
characters per page
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Suggested lengths are given for each factsheet
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Lengths are a guide – may vary from country to country
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Do not write more than 7000 words altogether
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Up to you to use the words available most effectively
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See sample factsheets in English for presentation
Sub-pages and hyperlinks
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You can create sub-pages where you want to
provide more detail about something or to avoid
duplication or repetition
Use this to avoid complicating the factsheets
Name sub-pages A, B, C etc and indicate
where the hyperlink to them should go
Write link to sub-page A in red
Eg if you often refer to 'the duty solicitor' create
a sub-page to explain what that is
Hyperlinks (continued)
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If you talk about organisations such as the Legal Aid
Board, the Police Complaints Authority etc. hyperlink
to the web page of the organisation in the text
Add hyperlinks at the end of each factsheet to
legislation in the original language and in translation if
a translation exists
Do not link to individual sections/paragraphs – just to
the law itself
Keep the name of the law as short as possible to save
words
Links to the law will be useful to lawyers from other
jurisdictions
Structure
Opening page
Factsheet 1
Introduction
Factsheet 2
Legal Advice
sub-page?
Duty solicitor
sub-factsheet
Questioning?
Factsheet 3
Investigation
Factsheet 4
During the trial
sub-page?
Legal aid
rules
sub-page?
Legal aid
rules
sub-factsheet
Arrest?
sub-factsheet
First court
hearing?
sub-page?
Duty solicitor
Factsheet 5
After the trial
Factsheet 6
Minor
offences
sub-page?
Legal aid rules
Subfactsheet
Preparation for trial?
Opening page
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Same look for all countries
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No real content – just headings for navigation
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List of titles linking to factsheets
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Create your own list of sub-factsheets under factsheet
3 (max of 6)
Probably best to create this page last once you have
decided what sub-factsheets are needed
Factsheet 1
Introduction to the criminal process
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Same introduction for all countries
Insert a bullet point summary of the basic stages of the
criminal process. No detail
Same last two paragraphs for all countries
More information – give links to general overviews of
the criminal law which could be useful to lawyers from
other Member States
Factsheet 2
Getting legal advice
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Same first paragraph for all countries
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Purpose is to save repetition later
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Use hyperlinks in the text e.g. contact the Bar
Association (make all hyperlinks live)
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What are the basic rules for entitlement to legal aid?
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Add hyperlinks for detailed information
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This section may be expanded in the future
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For now, it's a general overview with links
Factsheet 3
My rights during the investigation
of a crime
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Covers first involvement by the police until trial
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Rely on you to divide up the information as appropriate
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On factsheet 3, give brief overview of stages, then create subfactsheets for each different stage
No more than 6 stages
List them so that hyperlinks can be created to the subfactsheets
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Cover all the rights listed in italics in the template
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Up to you to decide where they should be covered
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See sample factsheets for guidance
Factsheet 4 and 5
Rights during the trial and after the trial
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Cover rights during and after the trial
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Focus on rights, not procedure
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Remember to discuss the rights of a citizen of another Member
State
In particular
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need to be present, possibility of giving evidence by
video etc
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Possibility of being sent back to the home Member
State
Factsheet 6
Road traffic and other minor offences
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Covers minor offences which don't always have to go to court
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Particularly road traffic offences
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For you to determine what kind of offences should be covered
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Then to describe the rights of the accused
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Important here to provide links to the administrative bodies
which deal with the offences
Not much space. Up to you to prioritise
Summary
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Focus on rights
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Write for the ordinary citizen
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Not about what you know but about what they
need to know
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Not a legal text book
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Produce 6 factsheets using the headings given
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Produce up to 6 sub factsheets for factsheet 3
Summary (continued)
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Produce sub-pages for information which is
repeated
Tell us where the links need to go
Make external links live...ie insert a hyperlink to
the web page in question
Respect the word and character counts
Factsheets which do not respect word and
character counts cannot be published
Liese Katschinka
President of European Legal Interpreters and
Translators Association - EULITA
Translation Process
6-eye principle
Guidance for Experts, Template
Step 1:
English was translated into XY language by a
translator with XY as a mother tongue.
Step 2:
The translation was checked by a second
translator/editor/revisor with XY or English as a
mother tongue (completeness, terminology, style
– 4-eye principle of CEN standard on translation
services)).
Step 3:
The CCBE national expert was/is asked to
double-check the translated text to ensure its
compliance with the national situation.
(Several translators contacted the national expert
already during Step 1 or Step 2 and found the
consultations on terminology very helpful.)
Result: Word count of English original and
translations into XY languages showed minor to
major differences  need to be taken into account
when writing the factsheets in the XY languages.
Word count
Guidance for Experts, Template
Guidance for experts
Language
English
Word count / character
count
Bulgarian
523 words / 2963 characters
582 words / 3653 characters
Czech
523 words / 2963 characters
495 words / 3351 characters
Danish
523 words / 2963 characters
515 words / 3388 characters
Dutch
523 words / 2963 characters
530 words / 3428 characters
Estonian
523 words / 2963 characters
423 words / 3188 characters
Finnish
523 words / 2963 characters
407 words / 3379 characters
French
523 words / 2963 characters
631 words / 3355 characters
German
523 words / 2963 characters
592 words / 4036 characters
Greek
523 words / 2963 characters
620 words / 4139 characters
Italian
523 words / 2963 characters
602 words / 3940 characters
Hungarian
523 words / 2963 characters
500 words / 3835 characters
Latvian
523 words / 2963 characters
468 words / 3374 characters
Lithuanian
523 words / 2963 characters
497 words / 3682 characters
Portuguese
523 words / 2963 characters
609 words / 3641 characters
Polish
523 words / 2963 characters
503 words / 3416 characters
Romanian
523 words / 2963 characters
556 words / 3622 characters
Slovak
523 words / 2963 characters
458 words / 2922 characters
Slovene
523 words / 2963 characters
514 words / 3277 characters
Template
Language
English
Word count / character
count
Bulgarian
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
2,197 words / 13,427 char.
Czech
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
1,975 words / 12,771 char.
Danish
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
2,270 words / 14,470 char.
Dutch
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
2,232 words / 14,582 char.
Estonian
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
1,784 words / 13,562 char.
Finnish
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
1,665 words / 13,471 char.
French
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
2,463 words / 14,856 char.
German
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
2,184 words / 15,414 char.
Greek
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
2,372 words / 15,261 char.
Italian
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
2,311 words / 14,490 char.
Hungarian
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
1,895 words / 14,211 char.
Latvian
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
1,979 words / 13,478 char.
Lithuanian
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
1,955 words / 13,975 char.
Portuguese
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
2,224 words / 13,856 char.
Polish
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
2,206 words / 14,954 char.
Romanian
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
2,297 words / 14,371 char.
Slovak
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
1,930 words / 12,040 char.
Slovene
2,176 words / 12,164 char.
2,142 words / 13,421 char.
Translation Process
6-eye principle
Factsheets
Step 1:
Translator with XY language as mother tongue will
translate the factsheets into English.
Step 2:
The translation will be checked by a second
translator/editor/revisor with English as a mother
tongue (completeness, terminology, style, English
language – 4-eye principle of CEN standard on
translation services).
Step 3:
The CCBE national expert will be asked to
double-check the translated text to ensure its
compliance with the national situation. No need to
check the English (unless major errors).
(Several translators may find it useful to contact
the national expert already during Step 1 or Step
2; the consultations on terminology may be very
helpful for the translation process.)
Attention: The word count of the English
translations must also amount to a maximum total
of 7000 words and the style must correlate with a
Flesh Kincaid score above 45.
ATTENTION:
AN INTERPRETER INTERPRETS (services
provided in spoken form)
A TRANSLATOR TRANSLATES (services
provided in written form)
An interpreter may be called upon to provide an
ORAL TRANSLATION = sight translation.
Verification
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When completed, factsheets must be sent to Bars/Law
Societies for verification
We rely on Bars/Law Societies to ensure that the guidance and
template are observed
Bars/Law Societies send to Ministries for approval. We will
contact Bars separately about this.
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Translation into English
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Verification by project team against template and Flesh score
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Must follow the template and word count rules or can't be
accepted
Timetable
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Complete factsheets by 19 April. Send to Bars/ Law
Societies
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Bars approve by 3 May
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Bars send to Ministries
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Ministries approve/ comment by 17 May
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Comments if any incorporated by 31 May. Bars send to CCBE
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CCBE sends to translators
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Translations completed by 12 July
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Factsheets in English checked by project team
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Final report submitted to Commission 16 August
Updates
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Factsheets must be updated annually
Updating work likely to begin in May/June of each year for three
years
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Completed by September
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Updates are for changes in law only
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Amend on an ongoing basis throughout the year
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Track changes
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If no changes in law, the update budget may be used for
improvements to factsheets
Peter Mc Namee
Senior Legal Advisor, CCBE