Introduction
Interpreters play a crucial role that facilitates communication between individuals, including the defendants, juries and attorneys. There have been tremendous and profound transformations of the way interpreters play their role in court proceedings (Wilson, 2013).
Since they are a central area of interest, this paper will analyze the past, present, and future issued revolving around interpreters. Also, the discussion will focus on how a victim rights laws affect the proceedings of the courts.
Past Issues and Trends
The USA started recognizing the importance of interpreters during a court proceeding in 1970 when the demand for their services increased in statutory and federal courts. Particularly, the courts needed assistance from Spanish interpreters to conduct successful proceedings in the court.
Whereas they needed their services direly, the courts could hardly find them due to unavailability. Since the demand had arisen freshly, they were not treated as part of the courthouse. They could only attend the proceeding and then leave the premises. Unfortunately, there were profound stigmas that affected their work since most of the players in court had a bad attitude to them.
First, the attorneys could suspect that these interpreters had a connection with the victims. As a result, they were not informed about the details of the proceedings. The worst scenarios were the in which the interpreters did not even know the name of defendants for half of the entire period of interpretation.
These stigmas had intensified to the extent that the court clerks opposed the right of the defendant having interpreters. In essence, when they were hired to interpret for the court, the clerks did not understand what they needed to execute their role, or whether they could do it correctly.
Having suffered many humiliations, the interpreters started rebuilding their disparaged reputation by adopting professionalism and creating favorable working relations with the members of the courts. Their efforts enabled the conception and enactment of Court Interpreter’s Act that was stipulated in 1979.
Under this act, the Spanish interpreters were certified, and the courts began stipulating the qualification standard for interpreters. The certification was the first major step towards the integration of interpreters in the court systems. Afterward, both federal and state courts created an interpreter post in their organizational structures.
Present
As a result of continuous scrutiny and development of professionalism, the state and federal governments have certified about 800 Spanish interpreters to serve the courts (Brems & Gerald, 2014). In essence, they are presently considered as mentors, leaders, and role models regarding professional interpretation (Shlesinger, 2010).
How interpreters interact with members of the courts, including the attorneys, clerks, and judges, has improved significantly. The courts have set out to shape modern interpreting department to ensure that the interpreters are involved in the critical activities. Also, the interpreters are informed about the details of the court since they can be entrusted with the information given by the clerks and attorneys.
Future trend and Issues of interpretation
Whereas the professional has improved profoundly, there are sustained challenges regarding interpretation. The courts have focused on Spanish since it has the highest number of cases. Accordingly, they have disregarded other languages by considering them as being less important than Spanish. In the future, courts will be forced to develop the interpretation in other languages since the world has globalized.
Also, the courts do not exist in isolation, but they work amidst a global environment. As a result, they need to develop the international standards that can be used to determine the qualification of interpreters from any part of the world. The development of international standards is necessitated by the high possibility of dealing with people from various countries whose interpreters are not necessarily from the country of litigation.
Also, the juries need to initiate conception of elevated testing standards to increase and build on accuracy bearing in mind that the veracity of interpretation is a very crucial aspect. The future courts also need to employ an experienced, dignified, and knowledgeable interpreter mandated to oversee the accuracy, professionalism, and efficiency of the hired personnel.
The undertaking should be accompanied by improved administrative support when it comes to data entry, communication, and provision of equipment.
Lastly, the future world is going to an exclusively technological level. In this regard, the courts and the entire legal profession will not be an exception to this development. As a result, the involved department should provide devices for electronic transmission of information rather than relying on the physical capability of the interpreters during proceedings.
Victim Rights Laws and their Impacts on Court Proceedings
Past and Present Impacts
The Victim’s Rights Law provides a victim, who has been affected by a commission of a criminal offense, the right of protection, impartiality, respect, and dignity without compromising the constitutional right of the offender (Davis, 2009). In the past and present, the law has helped many victims of sexual assault and violence to seek justice without fear of compromising their security.
It facilitates fast and efficient consideration of the case provided by such people in their quest for justice. Some attorneys have used this clause as the basis of setting up some centers where the victims can submit their complaints. Having purported the creation of these centers, the offended people can submit their cases easily since they go through the lawyers in contrary to tendering them personally.
Future Impacts
Since the level of crime, drug trafficking, and violence, there is a very high possibility for the courts to create new posts for Victim Rights Department. In this case, it is not appropriate for the courts, which claim to provide justice to all citizens, to ignore the plight of voiceless people and rely on other private institutions. As a result, this person will be involved during the court proceeding to uphold the rights of offended people.
Conclusion
It is evident that the interpreters have undergone a profound transformation in light of developing their professionalism. In the past, they suffered segregation, humiliation, and lack of equipment needed for interpretation.
Nonetheless, the present interpreters have adopted high levels of professionalism that have made the courts to incorporate them in their organizational structure. In the future, however, the courts need to conceive proficient transmission systems and implement high testing standards.
References
Brems, E., & Gerald, J. (2014). Shaping Rights in the ECHR The Role of the European Court of Human Rights in Determining the Scope of Human Rights.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Davis, R. C. (2009). Securing rights for victims a process evaluation of the National Crime Victim Law Institute’s victims’ rights clinics. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.
Shlesinger, M. (2010). Doing justice to court interpreting. Amsterdam: John Benjamin Pub. Company.
Wilson, J. (2013). American law yearbook 2012 a guide to the year’s major legal cases and developments. Detroit, Mich.: Gale.