Under the new lay judge system, ordinary people are being introduced to the experience of serving as judges. They cannot assume that all defendants will speak Japanese. Some lay judges will handle criminal trials involving foreign defendants.
To ensure fair trials for nonspeakers of Japanese, interpreters will have an important role to play. Accurate interpreting is indispensable for establishing clear communication free of misunderstanding between defendants, on one hand, and lawyers, public prosecutors and judges, on the other.
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In addition to their expertise in a foreign language, court interpreters must have a deep knowledge of criminal procedures covering investigation, detention, indictment, trials and the execution of punishment. They also must maintain strict neutrality and high ethical standards.
The National Police Agency's white paper on crimes shows that courts across the nation handed down guilty sentences to 6,992 foreigners in 2007. Nearly 40 foreign languages were interpreted in court. Supreme Court data show that as of April 2009, 4,066 interpreters were registered with the courts nationwide to handle 58 foreign languages. The language with the largest number of interpreters was Chinese at 1,754, followed by English at 577, Korean at 428 and Spanish at 270.
Despite the importance of accurate interpreting in court, the Code of Criminal Procedure only says, "When a person not familiar with the Japanese language is made to make a statement, an interpreter must translate." It contains no stipulations concerning the interpreter's knowledge of a foreign language and legal terms.
Although courts hold study meetings from time to time to help improve the quality of court translation, this may not be enough. It may be time to consider introducing a system to certify court interpreters and those who serve at police stations. It must be remembered that an interpreter is needed as soon as a foreigner is arrested. At the very least, a systematic approach to improve the training of interpreters should be considered.
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