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Language and the Administration of Justice: The International Framework

Language and the Administration of Justice: The International Framework <jats:sec><jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Language use in court proceedings, in prisons, and in communications with the police are three areas of interest within the domain of the administration of justice. If the existing standards that are of explicit or implicit relevance for language use in the administration of justice are analysed, the relevant general human rights provisions, minority rights standards and prison rules should be studied. Whereas the first category of rights reflects concerns of justice and fairness, and are thus formulated in terms of ’language one understands’, the second one refers more directly to minority languages (and thus also languages of the various population groups in plural societies without majority population). However, the latter provisions are so vague and replete with escape clauses that their actual contribution to the accommodation of linguistic diversity in respect of the administration of justice remains doubtful. The prison rules do not reveal any great attention to language issues, but the European Prison Rules (Council of Europe) definitely provide important guidelines. The specific Council of Europe Recommendation regarding Foreign Prisoners is much more language-sensitive and is arguably also applicable by analogy to prisoners speaking a language differing from the preferred state language. Overall, it is obvious that this area of law and its specific problems are little analyzed and not yet fully explored. It is to be hoped that this article will contribute to both the academic debate and policy developments in multilingual states.</jats:p> </jats:sec> http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal on Minority and Group Rights Brill

Language and the Administration of Justice: The International Framework

International Journal on Minority and Group Rights , Volume 7 (2): 75 – Jan 1, 2000

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2000 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1385-4879
eISSN
1571-8115
DOI
10.1163/15718110020907927
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

<jats:sec><jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Language use in court proceedings, in prisons, and in communications with the police are three areas of interest within the domain of the administration of justice. If the existing standards that are of explicit or implicit relevance for language use in the administration of justice are analysed, the relevant general human rights provisions, minority rights standards and prison rules should be studied. Whereas the first category of rights reflects concerns of justice and fairness, and are thus formulated in terms of ’language one understands’, the second one refers more directly to minority languages (and thus also languages of the various population groups in plural societies without majority population). However, the latter provisions are so vague and replete with escape clauses that their actual contribution to the accommodation of linguistic diversity in respect of the administration of justice remains doubtful. The prison rules do not reveal any great attention to language issues, but the European Prison Rules (Council of Europe) definitely provide important guidelines. The specific Council of Europe Recommendation regarding Foreign Prisoners is much more language-sensitive and is arguably also applicable by analogy to prisoners speaking a language differing from the preferred state language. Overall, it is obvious that this area of law and its specific problems are little analyzed and not yet fully explored. It is to be hoped that this article will contribute to both the academic debate and policy developments in multilingual states.</jats:p> </jats:sec>

Journal

International Journal on Minority and Group RightsBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2000

Keywords: equality; minorityrights; administration of justice; language rights; human rights; prison rules

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