In the City of Buenos Aires, this vision was consolidated in 2020 with Law 6.367, which promotes its use in all official acts. In the Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, we decided to take a further step: create a "Comprehensive Clear Language Program" as one of the axes of our management.
We started from a diagnosis: citizens did not clearly distinguish between crimes, contraventions, and offenses, nor did they understand judicial processes. An internal survey confirmed this perception: 80% of the staff believed that the public did not understand what was being communicated, and 88% saw the need for training.
Thus, in 2021, the "Clear Language Workshops" program was born, which trains all personnel with a practical approach: reformulating real documents from the different departments.
Since 2017, Argentina has been promoting the use of clear language in the public sector to guarantee transparency and the right to understand. In our plans, we aim to advance towards a Clear Language Writing and Editing Area. Externally, we integrate the Pan-Hispanic Clear Language Network, the international association PLAIN, and work with the UBA Observatory and other justice bodies of the City of Buenos Aires.
The great challenge is to always remember our main target: the citizenship. Respecting their right to understand means getting involved in the territory, reviewing our habits, and opening up to new tools, even legal design or artificial intelligence.
We are convinced: when people understand what the Justice system communicates, respect for norms increases, crime decreases, and more peaceful and inclusive societies are strengthened.
In three years, we have held 27 workshops, over 400 hours of training, and trained more than 65% of the jurisdiction. We have reformulated nearly 150 documents —official notes, notifications, decrees, reports, opinions— and even submitted them to the review of neighbors to measure their comprehension.
The results are clear: in surveys, more than 97% of participants positively valued the experience, and 100% of the leadership confirmed improvements in the writing of the texts.
Because a government of the people and for the people must be understood by all and all. Formalisms were reduced, writing was simplified, and punctuation and conceptual clarity were improved.
Additionally, we extended the perspective of clear language to other areas: - Oral training for prosecutors and teams in probation hearings, which increased compliance with agreements from 58% to 92%. - Reformulation of the complaint website and dissemination materials. - Updating templates of the judicial management information system.
That is their right, and it is our obligation. And the MPF documents were difficult to read for non-specialists.
