New Mexico Justice System Interpreter Resource Partnership
In FY 2008, SJI awarded a Project Grant (SJI-08-N-173) to the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Court for the New Mexico Justice System Interpreter Resource Partnership. The partnership is currently assisting justice system agencies by providing a shared capacity for recruitment, screening, and training of interpreters in New Mexico. Through these efforts, the partnership has coordinated interpreter services across the justice system, and enhanced entry-level training and continuing education for interpreters. This has increased both the number and quality of trained interpreters in the state.
The partnership’s specific objectives are to implement and maintain:
- A registry of qualified interpreters recruited and trained based on regionally identified needs of the partnership member agencies.
- Training and testing to qualify interpreters for work throughout the justice system, and provide a foundation for certification as court interpreters or advanced training in other specific areas of focus (i.e. juvenile justice, corrections, etc.).
- Training for groups and agencies on the roles, responsibilities, and professional ethics expected of qualified interpreters and those who work with them.
- Increased accountability in ensuring meaningful access by limited English-speaking persons to justice system services; consistent with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Executive Order 13166.
Key partners include the New Mexico State Police, the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department, the University of New Mexico – Los Alamos, Dona Ana and Central New Mexico Community Colleges, and the Supreme Court/AOC. The New Mexico Translators and Interpreters Association and the Access to Justice Commission are also currently involved in the partnership.
The partnership decided to first focus on Objective #2 – training and testing to qualify interpreters for work through the justice system. The successful development of a professional recruitment and training mechanism was identified as the necessary foundation for progress towards the other three objectives. The SJI grant supported these activities for the first year of the project, including the creation of the New Mexico Center for Language Access (NMCLA) to train and produce qualified court interpreters.
The AOC was awarded a second grant in FY 2009 (SJI-09-N-157) to continue working on the partnership’s objectives. During Phase II, the partnership will focus on: 1) strengthening the NMCLA; 2) developing and delivering training for all levels of justice system agency personnel and the judiciary – this training will be agency-specific, and will focus on the roles, responsibilities, and professional ethics of qualified/certified interpreters, and compliance with Title IV of the Civil Rights Act; and 3) creating and maintaining an Interpreter Registry of Justice System Interpreters (qualified through NMCLA) for use across partner agencies and by other publicly-funded services.
The final grant report from Phase I of the project is available on SJI’s website.
