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Provide Information Clearly

Easy Read version available

The information that someone must retain throughout their journey through the criminal justice system is immense (just look at the content of our website to get a taste for it!).

Stress can affect a person's memory by both making it difficult to first store the information and also making it difficult to retrieve information that they did store.

For this reason, the provision of information in written form is so important. Flyers, handouts and even handwritten notes of a meeting can help when someone is trying to recall important details after the fact.

Signposting to our website will also help your service users by giving them access to clear and accessible information when they need it.

Easy Read

Easy Read is a specific way of presenting information in a format that is more accessible. It uses images and simple language to make the text easier to understand.

It can be particularly helpful for people with a learning disability / difficulty. However, it is also helpful for other groups of people such as:

  • People for whom English is a second language
  • People with health conditions such as dementia
  • People with depression and/or anxiety
  • People in high stress situations

We currently have Easy Read versions of some of our pages and are currently seeking funding to add more Easy Read pages.

Look our for the Easy Read Symbol.

The SOLD Network aims to prevent and reduce offending and improve support in the justice system in Scotland for people with cognitive and neurological impairment.

They have published a number of Easy Read documents to support people as they move through the criminal justice system:

They have also produced a series of guidance documents for professionals wanting to improve the support they provide to people with communication support needs:

They also have an online training course on supporting people's communication needs.

A table with examples of appropriate language use
A table showing the notification periods for the various sentence types. Prison sentence of 30 months or more (including life), Indefinite. Order for lifelong restriction, Indefinite. Admission to a hospital subject to a restriction order, Indefinite. Prison sentence of more than 6 months but less than 30 months, 10 years. Prison sentence of 6 months or less, 7 years. Admission to a hospital without a restriction order, 7 years. Community payback order with an offender supervision requirement, The length of the offender supervision requirement. Any other sentence (e.g. a fine or admonition), 5 years.
Last updated:
September 3, 2024
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