Court interpreting and the assessment of witness veracity

Abstract

The present article presents the psychological and legal criteria for the assessment of the reliability of witness testimony in the context of the work of an interpreter in a court environment, specifically in relation to the accuracy of the interpretation and the possible impact of the transformation on the assessment of the personal evidence by the court. Despite the considerable technological progress in criminology, testimony is still a significant evidentiary - investigative indicator and has a direct impact on the court rulings. Questioning as a procedural activity carried out in criminal as well as in civil proceedings, is a comprehensive act of interpersonal communication, in the course of which the subjective conviction of the court as to the honesty and accuracy of the testimony is shaped, and the presence of an interpreter as an intermediary between the questioning party and the party being questioned additionally complicates this action. Indicating the values of the testimony depends on many factors, which the interpreter needs to be aware of, similarly as the importance of the role they play by participating in court proceedings. Based on the knowledge to date, and interviews conducted with Polish sworn interpreters, prerequisites were formed to conduct indepth studies concerning the impact of translator’s strategy on the evaluation of the witness and testimonies submitted by them.

Keywords

• community interpreting
• court interpreting
• criteria of testimony veracity assessment
• content analysis of testimony
• cbca
• sva
• criteria-based content analysis