The number of Massachusetts residents who are foreign-born
continues to rise. As of 2004, 14.3 percent of Massachusetts
residents (over 906,000) were born in another country, compared to
9.4 percent in 1980. The share of immigrants in our workforce has
nearly doubled from 8.8 percent in 1980 to 17.0 percent. As of
2000, 43 percent of our immigrant population had a modest to severe
English-speaking deficit. Among Massachusetts residents aged 5 and
above with incomes below 187 percent of the poverty line, an
estimated 405,000 had limited English proficiency.
In court proceedings, even a modest English-speaking deficit can
raise significant barriers to access to justice.
"Maria," who has limited English proficiency, had a restraining
order to protect her from a former boyfriend. She later received
notice to be in Lowell District Court because the former
boyfriend's sister took out a 209A against her. When charges were
brought against the ex-boyfriend for violating the restraining
order, the sister allegedly threatened Maria not to testify. Also,
the sister allegedly had been calling Maria about the
ex-boyfriend's child support, and Maria allegedly left a message on
the sister's answering service.
Maria had to go from Fall River to Lowell to oppose the sister's
209A. The court did not have an interpreter for the hearing, and
after several hours, the judge offered to continue the hearing to a
later date so that an interpreter could be present. Maria had to
decline because she could not afford to go all the way to Lowell
again. The judge held the hearing without an interpreter and
allowed each party to describe Maria's message, which was in her
native language. The sister characterized the message as
threatening, which Maria denied. The judge extended the order for
one year.
Non-English speakers have the right to the assistance of an
interpreter in Massachusetts courts throughout the legal proceeding
and from a "certified" or "qualified" interpreter. General Laws, c.
221C, § 2, added by St. 1986, c. 627.
On April 18, 2003, the Administrative Office of the Trial Court
promulgated Standards and Procedures of the Office of Court
Interpreter Services (OCIS) under the authority of G.L., c. 221C, §
7(d).
"With the promulgation of these Standards … the manner in which
interpreter services are provided in judicial proceedings will be
formally established and consistently applied. The adoption of
these Standards … will mark an important milestone in the
development and professionalism of court interpreter services in
Massachusetts."
Now is a good time to assess how the development and
professionalism of court interpreter services in Massachusetts are
progressing.
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, a leading statewide legal
services support and advocacy program, legal services' Family Law
Task Force, and the MBA's Access to Justice Section Council have
developed and are conducting an online Language Access Survey to
learn about the extent to which interpreter services are being
provided as contemplated by the Standards and Procedures in the
various courts of the commonwealth. The Access to Justice Section
Council is asking members of the MBA to submit these surveys.
Members have received an e-blast to respond to the survey.
The Language Access Survey will serve as a tool for specifying
individual courts where the OCIS program of providing interpreters
is working well and those where improvements are needed. The survey
is designed to identify both best practices that should be
disseminated throughout the system and poor practices that should
be corrected.
The OCIS Standards and Practices contain important features which
the survey seeks to assess: Each court has a staff person
responsible for requesting the assignment of interpreters on behalf
of the court; case priorities are established; interpreters provide
assistance outside the courtroom; OCIS has a procedure for
providing interpreters in emergency situations; the interpreter to
whose assistance each "non-English speaker" has a right is a
professional acting in an official capacity; court interpreters are
bound by a Code of Professional Conduct.
To make the Language Access Survey as comprehensive as possible,
we are working to have a broad and diverse set of respondents. The
survey was launched in February 2008. Legal services has
disseminated the survey to social services organizations, including
domestic violence service providers and minority community social
service providers. To date, we have received 56 responses, apart
from the MBA membership. We anticipate that a large number of MBA
members care deeply about this access to justice issue and will
fill out a survey about at least one court. The Access to Justice
Section Council encourages members to disseminate it further to
colleagues and associates who may have valuable input to
share.
Jeffrey L. Wolf is a staff attorney at the Massachusetts Law
Reform Institute and a member of the MBA's Access to Justice
Section Council.