Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Criminal Law

: The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Study Finds Gaps in Aid for Non-English Speakers in State Civil Courts

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Study Finds Gaps in Aid for Non-English Speakers in State Civil Courts By JOHN SCHWARTZ Published: July 3, 2009 NY Times When Maythe Ramirez went to Superior Court in Contra Costa, Calif., for a child custody hearing in 2006, she wanted to tell the judge that her husband beat her and should not be allowed broad visitation rights. The court did not provide an interpreter for her, however, and Ms. Ramirez, who speaks almost no English, could not follow the arcane proceeding, much less participate. ?It is really as if you are doing nothing in court,? she said in Spanish through an interpreter, ?standing still and not being able to explain what?s really happening.? Ms. Ramirez, who came to the United States from Mexico, later divorced her husband and had the visitation rules modified with the help of a lawyer from Bay Area Legal Aid, who got her interpreters for other hearings...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on July 04, 2009 (boomark / email).