LOS ANGELES, CA- MARCH 6, 2023- Los Angeles Superior Court is facing a critical shortage of court interpreters for indigenous languages, Spanish, and other languages- creating a two-tier justice system for individuals who do not speak English proficiently.

PRESS CONFERENCE TOMORROW: Please Join Region Representative Begonya De Salvo from the California Federation of Interpreters, Local 39000 at their press conference Tomorrow, March 7, 2023 in DTLA in front of City Hall at 200 N Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 at 12:00 p.m. (Noon).

This lack of interpreters leads to inefficient proceedings and delays, as individuals struggle to understand what is going on or are forced to proceed without assistance, and even remain incarcerated unnecessarily while not knowing the charges against them.

Court interpreters are a constitutionally guaranteed right. The 6th amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees the right for non-English speaking individuals to have access to a court interpreter when they are involved in a legal case. Without proper interpretation, vulnerable and marginalized individuals are unable to effectively express themselves or comprehend the court process. Los Angeles is a very diverse county with over 200 languages spoken; however LA Superior Court is mismanaging the Language Access Funds by not valuing their workforce that is leaving the courts in record numbers, and failing to hire indigenous language interpreters as employees with equal access to county benefits.

The Los Angeles Superior Court must take immediate steps to address the disparity, e.g., engaging with indigenous language experts and community organizations in order to gain a better understanding of the language needs of indigenous court users; increasing interpreter availability; and ensuring that all court documents are available in multiple languages. Only then will we be able to achieve equal access to justice for all. 

POSSIBLE STRIKE: The interpreters' union is currently negotiating its contract with the Los Angeles court after three years of a terrible pandemic that took the lives of three interpreters and in the midst of record-high inflation. Los Angeles interpreters are the only court employee group in all of California without salary steps, and they have gone decades with less than a 1% raise per year, causing a massive exodus that is causing an unprecedented constitutional crisis for the people of Los Angeles. What's going on with the county funds for Language Access in the biggest and most diverse metropolis in the country?