Access to Justice for Minority Language Communities

Experiences of Irish Speakers and Irish Sign Language Users
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-1-80041-909-4
Verlag: Multilingual Matters

Buch, Englisch, Band 5, 180 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 461 g

Reihe: Translation, Interpreting and Social Justice in a Globalised World

Offers unique insights into the justice system, its power and the abuses that can happen to marginalised people when they intersect with the justice system.

This book explores how minority language users experience access to justice and the right to a fair trial when they use their language in the criminal justice system. It investigates the lived experiences of Irish speakers and deaf Irish Sign Language users who have directly interacted with the criminal justice system. Treating identity as both internally constructed and externally imposed, it focuses on the issues raised when internally constructed identities are misunderstood, oversimplified and misused by the majority or the authority.

The two case studies presented here investigate three layers of access to justice: procedural access, substantive access and symbolic access. This lens reveals the areas where, in spite of legal protections to safeguard fairness, minority language users still experience unequal treatment.

The book provides a nuanced understanding of the experiences of minority language users and will be of interest to researchers in translation and interpreting, sociolinguistics and human rights law.

Autoren/Hrsg.

McEvoy, Gearóidín

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Zeichensprachen, Künstliche Sprachen
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Übersetzungswissenschaft, Translatologie, Dolmetschen
• Rechtswissenschaften Strafrecht
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gewalt und Diskriminierung: Soziale Aspekte
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Minderheiten, Interkulturelle & Multikulturelle Fragen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Glossary of Terms

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Identity Construction and the Criminal Justice System

Chapter 3: Deaf and Irish Speaker Identity Construction

Chapter 4: Access to Justice

Chapter 5: The Right to an Interpreter and Procedural Access

Chapter 6: Minimum Standards of the Right to a Fair Trial and Procedural Access

Chapter 7: Substantive Access and Legislation, Training and Inclusion

Chapter 8: Symbolic Access and the External Identity: The Slíbhín and the Créatúr

Chapter 9: Symbolic Access and Recognising Internal Identity

Chapter 10: Concluding Remarks

References

Über Autor(innen)

McEvoy, Gearóidín
Gearóidín McEvoy is an independent researcher with an interest in Deaf studies, minority language rights, criminal law and policing.

Gearóidín McEvoy is a Lecturer in Law at Maynooth University, Ireland with an interest in Deaf studies, minority language rights, criminal law and policing.