THE IMPACTS OF LEGAL INTERPRETERS ON THE UK JUSTICE SYSTEM

Legal Interpreters
Name
Professor
Date
A Proposal to Review the Impacts of Privatization of Interpreting Services within the UK Justice System
It is a requirement under the European human rights law for interpreters to be used in helping foreign language speakers and the deaf in the UK judicial system. Averagely, 700 people make requests in the UK on a daily basis to use an interpreter in courts. An agreement was signed in August 2011 that would oversee the providence of legal interpreting services gain more efficiency in terms of service delivery while cutting on costs. This agreement made Capita Translation and Interpreting the sole provider of interpreters in the UK justice system. According to the Ministry of justice statistics, the privatization of interpreting services has affected service delivery since Capita fails to provide interpreters for thirty cases on a daily basis. This failure by Capita has massive effects on court proceedings in terms of delayed hearings, prolonged days for victims in remand and this will affect the justice system financially too. In this document, I will focus on both the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the move to the new system compared to the old one. The document will also look at how the quality of interpreting services has been affected by privatizing the sector to a single provider.
Before privatizing the sector to a single provider, the services were provided by independent qualified interpreters booked directly by the courts from a regulated national register. This meant that:
* The interpreters never missed court session.
* The interpreters were experienced.
* The interpreters were qualified with necessary certifications.
After privatization, court cases are adjourned and hence delayed due to the absence of interpreters on a daily basis. This means that the suspect is to be remanded pending the next hearing. The effectiveness the MoJ wanted when signing the framework agreement is not met. In fact, before privatization, the services were more effective as compared to now. Using interpreters who are not officially certified can also have dire consequences since they can affect the court proceedings.
When a case is adjourned and scheduled for a later hearing, the ministry of justice will have to use the taxpayers’ money to finance that. Therefore, this new agreement is also affecting the MoJ financially than the previous system that was used. When an agreement worth 168 million pounds is signed and the service delivery provided is questionable, then the cost effectiveness of the deal is questionable too.
Conclusion
Even though the Ministry of Justic...