Court Review: Volume 38, Issue 3 - “You Don’t Have to Hear, Just Interpret!”: How Ethnocentrism in the California Courts Impedes Equal Access to the Courts for Spanish Speakers

Authors

• Roxana Cardenas, California state courts

Date of this Version

October 2001

Document Type

Article

Comments

Published in Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association, 38:3 (2001), pp. 24-31. Copyright © 2001 National Center for State Courts. Used by permission. Online at http://aja.ncsc.dni.us/htdocs/publications.htm.

Abstract

This article analyzes the legal field’s apparent lack of interest in interpreter-related problems as a major barrier to ensuring equal access to the courts for Spanish speakers. It also seeks to dispel certain myths or misinformation about the function of interpreters by delving into a particular infamous case that involved the misuse of interpreters: the O.J. Simpson case.