Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-2025
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Public Policy Leadership
First Advisor
Melissa Bass
Second Advisor
Kyle Fritz
Third Advisor
Stephen Fafulas
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
As the Hispanic population continues to rise in Mississippi, Spanish language access in the public sector is of increasing importance. This thesis will specifically explore Spanish language access in Mississippi courts, identifying strengths and weaknesses and recommending policy solutions based on the results. To gain a better understanding of court interpretation in Mississippi, I interviewed ten Spanish language court interpreters and two court clerks either working in Mississippi courts or courts in similar southern states. Responses highlighted two themes as strengths: the federal court interpreter test and compensation, four themes as weaknesses: compensation, standards, omissions, and dialects, and four themes as solutions: standards, court staff training, compensation, and community. The findings from the interviews, background research, and literature review were used to develop the following three policy recommendations: low cost, in-state court interpreter training, improved court staff training, and higher court standards. Adopting these three policy recommendations would improve the efficacy of court interpretation, increasing accessibility to the court system for limited English proficient Spanish speakers in Mississippi.
Recommended Citation
Dudte, Meredith, "Spanish Language Accessibility Within Mississippi Courts" (2025). Honors Theses. 3224.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3224
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