How to Overcome Language Barriers in Criminal Justice
- 1). Identify which language or languages are used by the non-English speaking populations within a criminal justice jurisdiction. Consult census data or create community surveys to ascertain this information.
- 2). Establish policies and secure funds for foreign-language resources within each criminal justice jurisdiction, including police departments and courts, to most effectively serve non-English speakers within that community. Train police officers on what to do if someone does not understand English. Ask communications employees to inform all employees about the resources that are available to serve non-English speakers. Have them inform the general public, as well as targeted non-English speaking populations in their native languages, about the resources.
- 3). Actively recruit police officers who are native speakers of the languages used within a community. Incentivize English-only police officers to achieve bilingual foreign language proficiency and to certify their skills through optional employee reward programs. Assign language-proficient police officers to serve in areas where the foreign languages they speak are most likely to be spoken, such as an area with a high percentage of Chinese-owned businesses or an area with a high percentage of Hispanic residents.
- 4). Hire full-time or freelance translators to translate criminal justice information, including websites, public service information, pamphlets and paper forms into the different languages used within the community. Have the communications employees ensure that all the information is as equally accessible or as widely distributed as the English versions.
- 5). Provide public criminal justice services in different languages. Make telephone menus multilingual and hire non-active duty police staff who are qualified to serve the public both in person and over the phone in languages other than English.
- 6). Hire, keep on retainer or loan from other local agencies different language interpreters for law enforcement and court cases that may involve non-English speakers as witnesses or suspects.