NCJ Number
143599
Journal
Justice System Journal Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Dated: (1990) Pages: 103-109
Date Published
1990
Length
7 pages
Annotation
The appellate court decision in Valladares v. U.S. in 1989 will make it difficult to obtain nationwide implementation of either the letter or the spirit of the Federal Court Interpreters Act, which aimed to provide defendants and witnesses who do not speak English or who have speech impairments an equal chance to understand and take part in criminal and civil trials in Federal courts.
Abstract
The law took effect on January 26, 1979. It makes it difficult for a Federal judge or magistrate to ignore a request for a certified interpreter. A specific denial can come only after a hearing and can be appealed. Non-certified interpreters must be "otherwise competent." The law also required that the government pay for the service and that court officials help locate certified interpreters. The Federal judiciary was initially generally hostile toward the legislation. The Administrative Office of the Courts strongly supported it, but has certified only Spanish- language interpreters in the 10 years since the law took effect. Judicial decisions on the topic, such as that in the Valladares case, suggest an interpretive narrowing of the scope of the law and a willingness to ignore some of its crucial provisions. These decisions, together with the bureaucratic concerns of court clerks, make it unlikely that the situation will change. Footnotes, list of cases, and 6 references