8.01 Court Interpreter Assignments
To the greatest extent possible, OLA will schedule and provide court interpreters to appear for all criminal and civil matters including the initiation of a case (e.g., the filing of a complaint and affidavit; emergency hearings, or seeking a restraining order pursuant to G.L. c.209A); upon request by a language access liaison on behalf of a judge or court personnel, for parents in juvenile matters, guardians, witnesses, and other individuals who must understand or testify in a court proceeding; for onsite Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), such as mediations and conciliations within a courthouse facility; and for evaluations and investigations conducted outside of a court facility when ordered by the court, and either required by statute or by the court.
8.02 Other Language Access Services
In addition to scheduling and providing court interpreters as stated above in Section 8.01, OLA provides other meaningful language access services consistent with best practices, for example, distributing resource materials for court staff about how to assist LEP individuals, and translating court forms, communications, and self-help materials. OLA also works with court departments to train self-identified non-interpreter bilingual court staff to assist court users at clerk, register, probation, security and other entry points, counters, and court operations.
8.03 Procedures to Request Court Interpreters, ASL Interpreters or DHH Interpreters
- (A) All interpreter requests by court personnel must be made through MassCourts, whether for plaintiffs, defendants, witnesses, or other individuals who must understand, testify, or otherwise participate in a court event. In addition, when requesting an ASL or DHH interpreter, courts must also make a request directly to MCHDD using their court specific request form at: How to Request an ASL Interpreter or CART captioner.
- (B) Requests or changes to existing requests for court interpreters within 48 hours of the events must first be entered into MassCourts and then followed with an email to OLA.
- (C) OLA email addresses are to be used only by Language Access Liaisons or other court personnel to request a court interpreter for an immediate and unexpected court event. All other requests for court interpreter services shall be made through MassCourts.
- (D) When a court facility or department demonstrates an ongoing and consistent need for court interpreter services, that facility or department may request that OLA Management schedule a court interpreter for a specified language to that court facility or department every day, or routinely on certain days. All such requests must be directed to the Deputy Director of OLA and must be supported by significant evidence to warrant such an assignment.
- (E) All requests for ASL interpreters and DHH interpreters must be made as described in paragraph (A) above, simultaneously through MassCourts and directly to MCHDHH using their court interpreter request form. The MCDHH then selects and assigns ASL and DHH interpreters to court events.