Report: Standards for Language Access in Court (ABA 2012)

A project of the Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants, the Standards for Language Access in the Courts (2012) (available here) offers standards and extensive commentary to provide guidance to courts in designing, implementing, and enforcing a comprehensive system of language access services that is suited to the needs in the communities they serve. A system of language access services is required as a fundamental principle of law, fairness, and access to justice, and to promote the integrity and accuracy of judicial proceedings, so that persons needing to access the court are able to do so in a language they understand, and are able to be understood by the court. The Standards were developed as a joint project of five entities, and with the guidance of a large advisory group comprised of judges, court administrators, advocates and others.