Spanish Translations of Miranda Warnings and the Totality of the Circumstances

Spanish-translated Miranda warnings are administered annually to thousands of Hispanic custodial suspects. In examining 121 Spanish translations and their English counterparts from 33 states, the lengths of Miranda warnings were generally comparable but marked differences were observed in the readin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Law and human behavior 2009-02, Vol.33 (1), p.61-69
Main Authors: Rogers, Richard, Correa, Amor A, Hazelwood, Lisa L, Shuman, Daniel W, Hoersting, Raquel C, Blackwood, Hayley L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Associations
Attorneys
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Bilingualism
Civil rights
Community and Environmental Psychology
Constitutional law
Criminal defense attorneys
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Foreign Language Translation
Hispanic Americans
Hispanic people
Hispanics
Human
Human Rights - legislation & jurisprudence
Humans
Interrogations
Jurisdiction
Language
Language translation
Latinos/Latinas
Law and Psychology
Legal services
Miranda rights
Miranda warnings
Original Article
Personality and Social Psychology
Prisoners - legislation & jurisprudence
Psychology
Reading comprehension
Self incrimination
Spanish language
State court decisions
Statistical analysis
Studies
Translations
United States
Waivers
Warnings
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Summary:Spanish-translated Miranda warnings are administered annually to thousands of Hispanic custodial suspects. In examining 121 Spanish translations and their English counterparts from 33 states, the lengths of Miranda warnings were generally comparable but marked differences were observed in the reading levels for individual Miranda components. The adequacy of Miranda translations varies markedly from minor variations to substantive errors. The most serious problems involved the entire omission of Miranda components; several omissions were observed in the Spanish translations for even the basic rights to silence and counsel. More commonly, Miranda discrepancies involved dissimilar content with a substantial trend toward more information in English than Spanish versions. Findings related to the Miranda translations, different word lengths, and varied reading levels are discussed using the totality of circumstances as its framework.
ISSN:0147-7307
1573-661X
DOI:10.1007/s10979-008-9129-9