Power Dynamics under interpreter mediation in police interrogation: from the perspective of police questioning
There is no doubt that police interrogation is a crucial part of the legal process as information gathered throughout the interrogation will be presented later in court. More precisely, police interrogate suspects to ascertain whether they can be charged for alleged crimes and further construct a version of events that will be admissible for prosecution in court. To this end, police would use several strategies. Nevertheless, these strategies sometimes might be distorted or influenced by interpretation when it comes to interrogations with an interpreter’s presence. Drawing from 13 authentic police interrogation cases with Chinese-English interpreting in five different cities in China, this research delves into how interpreter mediation impacts the power dynamics in an interrogation scenario by distorted interpreting of questioning strategies wielded by police officers.
BIOGRAPHY
Wenshuai Hou is a Joint PhD student of Ghent University and Charles University in Prague. Her research primarily focuses on legal interpreting and forensic linguistics.