Translated Transcripts From Covert Recordings Used for Evidence in Court: Issues of Reliability

David Gilbert,Georgina Heydon

doi:10.3389/fcomm.2021.779227

Abstract

Nation states increasingly apply electronic surveillance techniques to combat serious and organised crime after broadening and deepening their national security agendas. Covertly obtained recordings from telephone interception and listening devices of conversations related to suspected criminal activity in Languages Other Than English (LOTE) frequently contain jargon and/or code words. Community translators and interpreters are routinely called upon to transcribe intercepted conversations into English for evidentiary purposes. This paper examines the language capabilities of community translators and interpreters undertaking this work for law enforcement agencies in the Australian state of Victoria. Using data collected during the observation of public court trials, this paper presents a detailed analysis of Vietnamese-to-English translated transcripts submitted as evidence by the Prosecution in drug-related criminal cases. The data analysis reveals that translated transcripts presented for use as evidence in drug-related trials contain frequent and significant errors. However, these discrepancies are difficult to detect in the complex environment of a court trial without the expert skills of an independent discourse analyst fluent in both languages involved. As a result, trials tend to proceed without the reliability of the translated transcript being adequately tested.

Highlights

Electronic surveillance technology is an effective means of collecting evidence used to prosecute serious and organised crime
Evidence presented in drug-related trials is often in the form of audio recordings of conversations held in languages other than English (LOTE)
Court transcripts containing expert opinion evidence proffered by police officers concerning the alleged meaning of drug-related code words were analysed

Summary

Introduction

Electronic surveillance technology is an effective means of collecting evidence used to prosecute serious and organised crime. Evidence presented in drug-related trials is often in the form of audio recordings of conversations held in LOTE. The recordings are usually obtained through telephone interception or covertly placed listening devices. The audio recordings are presented as primary evidence in the form of an audio file. To make sense of the evidence, the audio files are accompanied by transcripts in English having been translated from languages other than English (LOTE). These translated transcripts often contain drug-related code words and jargon

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion