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- Title
Interpreting in a cross-cultural cross-examination: an Aboriginal case study.
- Authors
Cooke, Michael
- Abstract
During sittings totalling 30 days over a 12-month period, a coroner's court in the Northern Territory of Australia undertook a much-publicized investigation into the death of an Aboriginal bushman who was shot by Northern Territory Task Force Police who were apprehending him on an isolated beach on a remote island in Northeast Arnhemland. The man had a history of mental illness. Prior to his killing he had wounded one man by spearing him without apparent provocation. In avoiding capture by local police earlier, he wounded another. During the inquest public authorities as well as the individual police were under pressure. The shooting coincided with the final stages of a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and followed two controversial shootings of Aboriginal people by paramilitary-type police units in other states. The provision of interpreting assistance for Aboriginal witnesses was a frequent source of courtroom contention. During the course of the case it became clear to the writer that the presence of an interpreter was often, from the cross-examiner's viewpoint, proving an irritation or even a thorn in the side. This is because the interposition of an interpreter serves to weaken or neutralize some of the standard tactical weapons in the cross-examiner's armory and because Aboriginal witnesses are generally far more compliant and malleable when they take the stand along. Thus the interpreter, particularly if he or she is articulate and confident, can pose an obstacle to a lawyer, who will, through tactical means, seek to have it removed, broken down, passed over, or got around. This then was the backdrop against which the courtroom lawyers applied their craft. And it this backdrop, rather than the unfolding drama of center stage, which is considered in the article.
- Subjects
AUSTRALIA; CRIMINAL justice system; INDIGENOUS peoples; SAN (African people); CRIMINAL investigation; WITNESSES; POLICE shootings; TRANSLATORS
- Publication
International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 1995, Vol 1995, Issue 113, p99
- ISSN
0165-2516
- Publication type
Article