Court Issues & Victims' Rights

Court Issues and Victims Rights
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Court Issues and Victims Rights
Part A: Issues of language barriers and availability of court-interpreters facing Court Administrators
The courts systems in the United States face many challenges on a day-to-day basis. These challenges include but are not limited to budgetary constraints, crimes of heinous nature, rights of victims and defendants and language barriers. This paper explores the issue of Language barrier from the perspective of court administrators. This challenge can easily result into serious legal concerns, particularly for non-English speakers or people of Limited English Population. The United States constitution in the fifth, sixth and fourteenth amendments provide for the right to have a court interpreter for litigants in court cases. The provision for interpreters in court proceedings also aligns with the requirements of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which formally forbids discrimination of anyone based on race, color, sex, religion or place of national origin within a setting of receiving public assistance from the government (Gaines, & Miller, 2003).
It is important to note that with appropriate effort by court administrators, the challenges of language barriers can well be limited by making use of competent interpreters while upholding the rights of non-English speakers or rather the Limited English Population (LEP). It is also vital to consider the fact that the overall American society is characterized by a great deal of cultural diversity (Legal Information Institute, 2012). This can be attributed to high levels of immigration into the United States, which is still a trend in continuance to date. As a result, the country has a high population of non-English speakers; which has in turn resulted in an ever more serious need for a diverse legal system. Court administrators have come to acknowledge this fact since language barriers stand to cause victims or defendants to be virtually absent from court hearings (De Jongh, 2008).
Indeed and as mentioned, the US constitution entails provisions for fair treatment and due justice as rights of the country’s citizens government (Gaines, & Miller, 2003). What is more is that a lot of controversy normally arises when it comes to interpreting the different languages that exist in the context of the law. It is unquestionable that there exists sufficient room for errors or mistakes to be made with ease. This can be because of lack of technical precision and aptitude or just mere misunderstanding of grammar. Obviously, the consequence or effects of such faults could be grave.
The use of interpreters within court proceedings has gained great significance over the years. According to the Interpreters Act of 1978, the Courts’ Administrative Office (CAO) bears the mandate of establishing guides and standards for interpreters’ engagement in federal courts hearings. It remains a fundamental purpose of the courts to ensure victims are treated with all fairness and justice.
Without a doubt, many languages existent in the world are relatively complex in nature, as compared to English. Of course, this is taking into considerations some often disregarded but important aspects of foreign languages like intonations and tones, which may be responsible for expressing meaning of statements or sentences. As such, the role played by interpreters within the courts remains invaluable (Kirby, et al. 2010).
It is however, imperative to note that language interpretation within court proceedings had been largely disregarded in the past. As such, the court systems have adopted mechanisms of appointing interpreters in cases where defendants and or witnesses are non-English speakers. Administrators have realized in this manner the significance of challenges posed by cultural misunderstandings aside from mere language barriers, still a notable level of success has been realized so far.
It is also important for court administrators to consider ways in which misinterpretation can occur outside court proceedings. A good example in this case is scenarios whereby witnesses offer information relating to cases under investigation by law enforcement agencies, particularly the police, or when victims communicate with other state officials like parole or probation officers. Still, administrators should overlook the fact that interpreters bear the power of influencing the overall setting of the court environment. They can productively control instances of expressing anger by court officials or fear by victims or defendants. This gives a sense of importance to the role played by interpreters; they determine the tone of communication within the courts and so the accuracy of content of information shared (Legal Information Institute, 2012).
All the same, there arise instances whereby court interpreters fail to meet set standards and end up infringing protocol. This is mostly due to errors of omission and inaccuracy, as they tend to summarize statements of court officials, defendants and victims. This has greatly undermined efforts of court administrators in solving the issue of language barrier in courts. More so, there are times when interpreters fail to point out when unfamiliar terms are stated, such form of neglect can have effects that are gross. As such, it remains extremely important for court administrators to ensure interpreters demonstrate keen professionalism and competence by first familiarizing themselves with standards required of interpreters. They should establish clear guidelines for this in addition to recouping some of interpreters’ fees as court costs for assessments (Kirby, et al. 2010). To tackle the problem of lack of interpreters, court administrators could lobby for the establishment of official mandate at state level that necessitates appointment of interpreters in cases involving non-English speakers or people of the Limited English Population (LEP). Such measures would allow for equal access to justice to people of all backgrounds besides upholding the constitution of the United States.
Part B: Victim Rights