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

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.