How Comprehensible Are the PACE Codes of Practice to the Majority of Persons Who Might Wish to Read Them? (From Children, Evidence and Procedure, P 70-74, 1993, Noel K Clark and Geoffrey M Stephenson, eds. -- See NCJ-150558)

• NCJ Number: 150569
• Author(s): D Joyce
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 5 pages
• Sale Source: British Psychological Soc
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

England's Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984 (PACE) is intended to provide necessary information to detained persons; if PACE codes of practice, revised in 1991, cannot be understood by detainees, their usefulness is questionable.

Abstract

The 1991 codes of practice were analyzed by selecting text samples in a pseudo-random manner; 40 samples of text involving 4,000 words resulted. A computer program was employed to determine readability scores for the 40 samples and to produce an estimate of the Fry "reading age" required to comprehend each sample. Findings revealed that an individual required a theoretical average reading age of almost 19 years to successfully comprehend the codes of practice, that less than 25 percent of the general population could properly comprehend over 75 percent of the codes of practice, and that only 5 percent of the general population could understand half of the codes of practice. 9 references, 2 tables, and 2 figures