[GPCA Updates] NEWS ADVISORY - Measure protecting people with languagebarriers in courts worthwhile, say Greens

[Jim Stauffer]

                  News Advisory

           THE GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA
               www.cagreens.org


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 					     
Thursday, March 16, 2006
  

Protection in the courts for millions of Californians
with language barriers long past due, according
to Green Party of California spokesperson

SACRAMENTO (March 16, 2006) – Legislation introduced  here requiring
California courts to provide interpreters in civil court – from traffic and
small claims to juvenile – is long overdue for the millions of Californians
who cannot access the legal system because of language barriers, said a
spokesperson for the Green Party of California today.

Assembly bill 2302 (David Jones, D-Sacramento), due to be heard in the
Assembly Judiciary Committee in late March, makes it mandatory for courts
to provide a certified interpreter unless a party has notified the court he
or she had made other arrangements. Under current law, a qualified
interpreter is not provided in most civil proceedings.

"The inability to integrate of our citizens into the legal process
undermines the entire judicial system, and certainly makes a farce of our
claim, as a society, of equal justice for all. This measure is long
overdue," said Susan King, GPCA spokesperson.

According to the bill, the measure would effect an estimated seven million
Californians who cannot access the courts without significant language
assistance, and cannot communicate with clerks, court staff or the judge
during a proceeding. About 40 percent of Californians now speak a language
other than English in the home, with about nine million people who are
foreign born. More than 220 languages are spoken in the state.

Pat Driscoll, another GPCA spokesperson, added that while the current legal
system is unfavorable to those who cannot speak or read English with
proficiency,"AB 2302 is one way to level the playing field for all parties
in civil court."

According to the legislation, "People with limited English proficiency are
often members of groups whose cultural or economic circumstances make them
more likely to be subjected to legal problems, in part because perpetrators
recognize their victims' limited ability to access judicial protection."
The legislation also mandates the use of certified interpreters, who are
trained to work within the court system. Currently courts often use
interpreters who are not "certified," which hurts the cause of non-English
speaking parties.