Recently a court in Sarasota County, Florida reversed a decision that required some non-English-speaking defendants to pay for their own criminal court interpreters/translators.

Fees were initially dropped when defense attorneys argued that it was not fair that those who did not speak English had to pay to understand what was going in court and the crimes for which they were accused.

Non-English-speaking criminal defendants who hire private attorneys are not eligible to receive compensation for interpretation services. Those who are appointed public defenders by the court will receive interpretation services at no charge with the court paying interpreters $45 to $50 per hour.

04 August 2008