By Heather Wilcox
Sixteen court-qualified American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters and real-time captioners were sworn in during a special ceremony at the Colorado Supreme Court on Feb. 24. Justice Monica M. Márquez presided over the ceremony, which will allow interpreters and captioners to provide services in future court proceedings without having to be sworn in each time.
“Access to justice is essential to achieve the commission’s goal of a barrier-free Colorado. Each of you makes this happen when you provide effective communication access,” said lead ASL/English interpreter Christine Pendley from the Colorado Commission for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind. “The Colorado Judicial Branch needs skilled interpreters and captioners such as yourselves to ensure that deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind residents have access to justice in our state. Judges, judicial staff, attorneys, managing court interpreters and others rely on the unique skills and expertise you possess to meet communication needs.”
The Legal Auxiliary Services program provides qualified interpreters and captioners for all state court-related proceedings (including mediation and evaluations), jury duty, pretrial services and probation, and court-ordered treatment or classes. The program, which was established in 2006, makes all communication access arrangements for Colorado State Court proceedings, making it the only one of its kind in the United States.
The first group swearing-in ceremony for legal designation in Colorado was held in 2015, with Supreme Court Chief Justice Nancy Rice presiding. Colorado now has 41 court-qualified interpreters and nine court-qualified captioners. The interpreters are certified to provide ASL/English interpretation, and the captioners are certified to provide Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services.
“Typically the only happy reason people come to a courtroom is to be married or finalize an adoption,” said Justice Márquez. “In most other situations, people are scared or concerned. Having these newly sworn-in members of the court who can make sure the deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind community can fully participate in court is so important.”
Legal Auxiliary Services also makes lists of court-qualified providers available to law enforcement and prosecutors, who are required to utilize legal-credentialed providers for effective communication during arrests and questioning of victims and witnesses. The program provides communication access services for state-level administrative, commission, agency or licensing hearings. People who wish to observe state court proceedings are also covered when resources are available.
Interpreters and captioners must hold a Colorado Status I or II Court/Legal designation to work in state court proceedings. The referral list of providers and other information about the program is available on the Legal Auxiliary Services program webpage.
Heather Wilcox is Communications Specialist with the Colorado Department of Human Services.