Translation and interpreting services in Tupelo

Language access rules in Mississippi

Court interpreter program

Mississippi Administrative Office of Courts (AOC), Mississippi Court Interpreter Credentialing Program, which trains, tests, and certifies foreign language court interpreters and gives all state courts a roster of credentialed interpreters; the AOC Director of Language Access educates judges, court staff, and attorneys on interpreter requirements and recruits interpreters.

Court-certified languages

The AOC credentials spoken-language interpreters at two levels rather than by language: registered (Ethics and Skills Building Workshop plus a written exam) and certified (a registered interpreter who scores at least 70% on each of the three oral performance exam sections). Courts must appoint certified interpreters first, then registered, then non-credentialed interpreters.

The rule

Miss. Code Ann. §§ 9-21-71 to -81, enacted in 2006 (Senate Bill 2269) and revised in 2023 (House Bill 1217), require a court to appoint an interpreter when it finds a party cannot understand and speak English well enough to participate fully or a witness cannot speak English well enough to be understood, and, according to the AOC, entitle limited English proficient individuals to an interpreter in any instance arising out of their involvement in litigation (§ 9-21-73(4)), with the county or municipality paying in civil cases so LEP individuals no longer pay.

Criminal cases

Since July 1, 2023, Miss. Code Ann. § 99-17-7 requires court appointment of a qualified interpreter for a limited English proficient criminal defendant at no cost to the defendant, with the county or municipality paying.

Interpreters across the whole case

The AOC states that the 2023 revisions entitle limited English proficient litigants and witnesses to a court interpreter in all phases of litigation, including hearings, depositions, and filings at the clerk's office, and bar assessing the interpreter's cost to the LEP individual.

Order of appointment

The AOC Court Interpreter Manual, citing Miss. Code Ann. § 9-21-80, requires interpreters to be appointed in order of preference: certified, then registered, then non-credentialed; courts, lawyers, and others hire interpreters directly from the AOC roster.

Registered sign language interpreters

Miss. Code Ann. § 37-33-173 bars anyone from providing interpreting services or representing themselves as an interpreter for deaf or hard of hearing consumers for compensation without registering with the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services, Office on Deaf and Hard of Hearing; registration requires NAD or RID certification, an accepted quality assurance screening level, or an EIPA score of 3.0 or higher.

Official language

Miss. Code Ann. § 3-3-31(1) provides that English is the official language of the State of Mississippi.

Ethics and standards

The AOC adopted the Court Interpreters Code of Ethics and the Rules on Standards for Court Interpreters on October 17, 2011, and joined the national Consortium for Language Access in the Courts in June 2006.