TAJIT Ethics & Skills Building Workshop at UTRGV, Brownsville, TX

TAJIT Ethics & Skills Building Workshop

November 2^nd 2019 from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm

at UTRGV, Brownsville, Texas

8.0 Credit hours including 2 ethics hours. 

Program

8:00 to 8:15 Introductions and Brief Description of Workshop Goals

This workshop will assist participants when having to interpret gun related testimony in Court

8:15 to 9:15 Discussion of Ethical Considerations

Participants will be asked to review JBCC’s Code of Ethics for Licensed Interpreters and identify key issues when faced with interpreting expert witness testimony. Discussion will focus on Tenets covering.Accuracy and Completeness;. Impediments to Practice;and Professional Development.

9:15 to 10:15 Guns and other weapons - A Hands on Crash Course - Marco Hanson -

The better understanding you have of the weapons themselves, the more accurately an LCI will be able to handle the content. What’s the difference between automatic, semi-automatic and fully automatic? Is a revolver a pistol, a handgun or both? What does rifling mean, and what firearms have rifled barrels? Is a magazine a clip? What are some common brand names and calibers of firearms that are used as shorthand for the weapon itself (Glock, Smith & Wesson, Colt .45, .357 magnum, .22, etc.) What main terms will be used in ballistics testimony from an expert, and what do they mean? The presentation will conclude with a brief survey of knives and other handheld weapons. All content is in English, but a Spanish-English glossary handout will be available.

10:15 to 10:30 Coffee Break

10:30 to 11:30 Continuation of Guns and other Weapons presentation

11:30 to 12:15 Review of Spanish Language Ballistic Reports and comparison with Glossary provided during prior presentation

12:15 to 1:30 Lunch

1:30 to 2:15 Review of Expert Testimony

Participants will be divided into groups of 2 or 3 and asked to review testimony provided by a Ballistic Expert in the Amber Guyger case with a focus on refining their glossaries and develop solutions to difficult terms and/or phrasing.

2:15 to 2:45 Refinement of Glossaries

Full discussion of remaining terminology questions regarding Expert Kendrick’s testimony.

2: 45 to 3:00 Ethical Concerns while Interpreting

Participants will discuss how to respond to ethical or professional challenges using JBCC’s Code of Ethics for Licensed Interpreters and Best Practices for Interpreting in Texas Courts. A special focus of this presentation will be the duty of check interpreters to comply with JBCC’s Best Practices.

3:00 to 3:15 Coffee Break

3:15 to 4:15 First Recorded Interpretation of Expert Witness Testimony and group discussion of difficulties

In the language lab the participants will be able to record their rendition of the testimony. The instructor will be monitoring the participants’ renditions. They will then be able to go back and review their own renditions, compare it to their glossaries and discuss with fellow participants any obstacles encountered.

4:15 to 5:15 Second Recorded Interpretation of Testimony.

Participants will repeat the exercise, but this time they will have the transcript available to them on their monitors and be able to verify how complete and accurate (as required by the Code of Ethics)their renditions are..

5:15 to 5:30 Final comments, evaluations