RT Article
T1 Protecting the rights of the accused: use of Spanish-language Miranda warnings in central Florida
JF The journal of forensic psychiatry & psychology
VO 32
IS 1
SP 119
OP 130
A1 Rogers, Richard
A2 Correa, Amor A.
A2 Donnelly, John W.
A2 Drogin, Eric York 1962-
LA English
YR 2021
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1747153761
AB Large, systematic investigations of Miranda warnings have evidenced remarkable heterogeneity in length and reading level across American jurisdictions. For Spanish translations, marked disparities were found when compared to the original-English Miranda warnings including awkward wording, mistranslations, and even the complete omission of crucially important Miranda components. To complement these broad studies, the current research provides an in-depth analysis of Miranda warnings used by the 9th Judicial Circuit of central Florida. Based upon 15 side-by-side comparisons of Spanish and English warnings, Spanish warnings were longer and required substantially higher reading levels. Three of five Spanish Miranda components on average required a minimum reading level at the Spanish 10th to 12th grade level. Although all original English versions, included the 5th component (Continuing Rights) in the original English, 20% inexplicably failed to do so for the Spanish translations, raising fundamental concerns regarding equal protection under the law for non-English speaking detainees. Community-based initiatives are discussed for improving Spanish translations and increasing Spanish-speaking detainees’ accessibility to legal expertise and forensic consultants.
K1 Spanish translations
K1 rights of the accused
K1 Miranda waivers
K1 Miranda warnings
DO 10.1080/14789949.2020.1833072