Interpreting in Criminal Proceedings: What Do On-Duty Investigating Judges Think About The Role Of Interpreters?

Abstract

The ever-increasing number of people who become involved in criminal proceedings and do not know the language of the proceedings makes interpreting a service in ever-increasing demand in Spanish criminal courts. Providing quality interpreting has come to be an essential element in the safeguard of the fundamental procedural rights of those who become involved in criminal proceedings and speak a language other than the one used by the court. Such importance becomes more relevant in those scenarios in which proceedings demand more speed, as the ones carried out in Spanish on-duty investigating courts. Therefore, the judiciary plays a pivotal role in ensuring that the accused persons who do not share the language of the court proceedings have the same rights as those who speak that language. Nonetheless, as shown in the results of this essay, judges are usually unfamiliar with the functions the interpreters must undertake and reluctant to receive some training on the subject. This paper presents the results of an empirical exploratory study on the perceptions of on-duty investigating judges in the city of Seville, in which six judges replied a semi-structured interview.