Outsiders in the courtroom: judicial interpreters in criminal courts

• In Event: Procedural and Courtroom Dynamics and the Sentencing Process 2

Abstract

In European jurisdictions both victims and suspects with a linguistic barrier are entitled to the right to a free interpreter. Given the diversity of service users in most European countries, judicial interpreters are a common feature of criminal courts. This presentation focuses on the particular position of judicial interpreters in the judicial system. As outsourced and untrained workers who very often belong to linguistic and ethnic minorities and/or are of migrant origin themselves, interpreters occupy a liminal and ambiguous position.
We address the position of interpreters through the analysis of the results of an empirical study conducted in criminal courtrooms (Lower, Higher courts and specialist intimate partner violence courts) in two Spanish jurisdictions. Qualitative methodology has been used, combining non-participant observation in lower and higher criminal courts in Barcelona and Girona and semi structured interviews with a diverse group of judicial interpreters and legal professionals.
Results show that interpreters are, at the same time, insiders and outsiders to the Courts environment. Moreover, interpreters are habitually faced with conflicting pressures and demands that arise from contrasting expectations about their role and team belonging. Whereas legal professionals tend to expect that they limit themselves to provide “a literal translation”, service users tend to place on them enormous demands that go well beyond their strictly defined professional role. In this situation, judicial interpreters perform considerable boundary work and constantly and diversely negotiate the presentation of their identities, their loyalties and their function in the courtroom.

Authors

• Ignacio González Sanchez, University of Girona

• Ester Blay Gil, University of Girona