The Indiana Supreme Court has taken another step to make Indiana court more accessible by translating portions of the Indiana Code into Spanish, Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard announced today.
 
“Having this material available in Spanish was a natural next step in our efforts to make Indiana courts accessible to all. Victims of crimes, defendants, and their counsel will now have access to basic code sections in Spanish. The court already has an interpreter certification program and we partner with Ivy Tech campuses across Indiana to offer classes in Workplace Spanish for the Indiana Judicial System,” said Chief Justice Shepard.

A key goal of the project is to better serve Spanish speaking people and the people who represent them. Making some Indiana Code sections, as well as a glossary of terms, available in Spanish was also supported by the Supreme Court’s Commission on Race and Gender Fairness, which is staffed by the Court’s Division of State Court Administration.

“Interpreters said it would be helpful to have a standard document on legal terminology so all interpreters use the same terms for charges, such as disorderly conduct or criminal recklessness,” said Chief Justice Shepard. “The Commission, and members of the Language Committee, decided to translate sections of the criminal code that come up most frequently for non-English-speaking victims and defendants as a way to further enhance our efforts to promote equal access to justice,” he added.

The translated sections will be updated annually, and other sections of the Code may be translated in the future. The translations were done by four certified interpreters/translators. All have college degrees, and several have advanced degrees and each regularly works in the courts interpreting and translating documents, and has conducted interpreter trainings.

The materials available include selected sections of the 2006 and 2007 Indiana Code, an alphabetical index of terms and a glossary outlining topic areas.

The translations are available online at http://courts.IN.gov/library/code. For further information regarding court interpreter services, visit: http://courts.IN.gov/interpreter/