Videoconference and Remote Interpreting in Criminal Proceedings

In response to increasing mobility and migration in Europe, the European Directive 2010/64/EU on strengthening the rights to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings has highlighted the importance of quality in legal translation and interpreting. At the same time, the economic situation is putting pressure on public services and translation/interpreting service providers alike, jeopardizing quality standards and fair access to justice. With regard to interpreting, the use of videoconference technology is now being widely considered as a potential solution for gaining cost-effective and timely access to qualified legal interpreters. However, this gives rise to many questions, including: how technological mediation through videoconferencing affects the quality of interpreting; how this is related to the actual videoconference setting and the distribution of participants; and ultimately whether the different forms of video-mediated interpreting are sufficiently reliable for legal communication. It is against this backdrop that the AVIDICUS Project (2008-11), co-funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General Justice, set out to research the quality and viability of video-mediated interpreting in criminal proceedings. This volume, which is based on the final AVIDICUS Symposium in 2011, presents a cross-section of the findings from AVIDICUS and complementary research initiatives, as well as recommendations for judicial services, legal practitioners and police officers, and legal interpreters.