The Indiana Supreme Court’s Language Line Program is as simple to use as taking porridge from a bear’s vacant cottage. All a judicial officer needs is a speakerphone, the Supreme Court’s approved account number, and a dialing finger.
To showcase the relative ease of using the Supreme Court’s Language Line Program, Judge Robert Altice, Marion Superior Court, and Lilia Judson, Executive Director of the Division of State Court Administration, conducted a mock bond hearing at the 37th Annual Judicial Conference in Fort Wayne. “Goldilocks” Judson had been charged with residential entry and criminal mischief for allegedly breaking into the home and destroying the furniture of the three bears.
Speaking only in Bulgarian, “Goldilocks” Judson requested that her bond be reduced. Using the Language Line Program, Judge Altice connected by speakerphone to a language line representative who was available within seconds to deliver quality interpretation. Not only did the interpreter appropriately interpret legal terminology and common English idioms, but she also effectively conveyed several subtly humorous lines, e.g. Goldilocks was attending beauty school at “The House of Hair” and needed to return home to help her friend, Little Red Riding Hood, who had problems with a hairy guy named “Wolf.”
The Supreme Court created the Language Line Program in 2005 as part of its continuing effort to improve access to justice in the courts. Under the Language Line Program, trial court judges are permitted to use the Supreme Court’s Language Line account to obtain over-the-phone interpretation for brief hearings.
Language Line Services has interpreters available in more than 140 languages and can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Interpreters employed by Language Line are required to be familiar with police and 911 procedures and have hundreds of hours experience interpreting.
For more information about the Language Line Program, or to obtain a card with the Supreme Court’s account number, judicial officers should contact Adrienne Meiring at (317) 232-2542, or [email protected].