National Association of Judiciary Interpreters & Translators
1707
L street, NW, Ste 507
Washington, DC 20036
202-293-0342
202-293-0495 (fax)
headquarters@najit.org · www.najit.org
The Honorable Rea B. Boylan
Bucks County Court of Common Pleas
55 E. Court Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
Dear Judge Boylan:
On behalf of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, a professional association with over 1100 members, I write to respectfully request that you reexamine the sentence imposed on Ryan Steel and consider imposing community service other than Spanish-English interpretation.
The Morning Call informs us that Mr. Steel, a construction worker 26 years of age who lived in Mexico a few years ago, has been sentenced to a work-release term requiring him to perform community service as a translator (apparently an authorial error for “interpreter,” since a translator works with written texts and an interpreter with spoken language). The article further states that he will provide services for Bucks County Court and county housing and health agencies.
Court interpretation is a highly skilled profession requiring specialized training and experience. Even bilingual individuals who have mastered two languages or speak them at a high degree of fluency are not qualified thereby to provide interpreting services in a courtroom. In a courtroom, language and the law combine to demand excellence and full command of technical language, nuance, register and vocabulary. In addition, there are strict and challenging ethical requirements for any court interpreter. Constitutional safeguards go hand in hand with qualified interpreters. We are aware of cases that have been reversed, dismissed, or resulted in much lesser charges due to the use of untrained and unqualified interpreters.
As a lesser point, we will also mention that even if the individual in question were highly educated and had undergone the rigorous training necessary to bring him to the requisite level of skill to provide satisfactory services—which seems unlikely—it would not be just and fitting for him, by donating community service, to displace a qualified worker in a Pennsylvania courtroom.
The state of Pennsylvania has recognized the necessity of high standards in court interpretation by joining the Consortium for State Court Interpreter Certification of the National Center for State Courts. More information about this issue can be obtained at the website www.ncsconline.org, or at www.najit.org.
With regard to health and housing agencies, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice has published guidance regarding Title VI and Executive Order 13166 compliance for LEP (limited English proficient) populations. This guidance makes clear that a lack of professionally trained and qualified interpreters has “…severe drawbacks…. The impediments to effective communication and adequate service are formidable. The client's untrained ‘interpreter’ is often unable to understand the concepts or official terminology he or she is being asked to interpret or translate.” If the county agencies receive any federal funding, they are obligated to provide competent services. Even if no federal funding were involved, the physical harm that could ensue from an unskilled interpreter at work is a potential wrong that must be avoided. We are familiar with many instances of errors in medical care due to poor interpretation that have had serious or even fatal consequences.
NAJIT members labor every day in courtrooms, jails, attorney’s offices and county facilities to ensure that those who do not speak adequate English will have the same access to justice as all other residents of our nation. We strive to provide services of the highest quality and invest time, energy and money in improving our skills, because we know how difficult the work of court interpreting is. Please do not allow this assignment, which could result is a serious miscarriage of justice to Spanish-speaking individuals in the court system, or physical harm to those receiving medical services due to errors in interpretation, to stand.
Sincerely yours,
Alexander Raďnof, Ph.D.
Chair, Board of Directors