NCJ Number
183765
Editor(s)
Joanne I. Moore
Date Published
1999
Length
274 pages
Annotation
This book presents information about immigrants’ access to justice in the United States and the procedural obstacles they face.
Abstract
The book examines immigrants’ cultural and linguistic problems through their words and reports of judges, attorneys and court interpreters, and provides information about the legal and cultural systems under which many immigrants grew up. It discusses the legal systems of China, Mexico, Russia, and Vietnam as well as the Muslim world. It explores how the law appears on the books, how the general population of a country perceives its legal system and how those perceptions affect expectations in the new country. A focus group of 8 to 10 recent immigrants discuss each of the profiled legal systems. The book includes the results of surveys and interviews of 40 judges, attorneys, and court interpreters about how immigrants fare in U.S. courts as well as suggestions for intervention at problem points. In addition, the book contains articles concerning: interpreters in court proceedings; immigration information for criminal cases in State courts; what Muslims in the United States have in common; Middle Easterners in American courts; and presiding over cases involving immigrants. Notes, appendixes, index