The book presents a discourse analysis of police interrogations involving U.S. Hispanic suspects accused of crimes. The study is unique in that it concentrates on interrogations involving suspects whose first language is not English and police officers who have a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish. It examines the pitfalls of using police officers as interpreters at custodial interrogations. Using an interactional sociolinguistic discourse analytical approach, the book offers a microlinguistic examination of interrogations involving persons accused of murder, child molestation, and kidnapping. Communication difficulties are shown to arise from suspects' limited proficiency in English and police officers' equally limited proficiency in Spanish, coupled with the unwillingness of these officers to remain in interpreter footing. The volume demonstrates how pidginization and asymmetrical communicative accommodation can emerge in such situations of highly unequal power relations. It also demonstrates how cultural factors such as acquiescence to interlocutors of greater authority and higher socioeconomic status can lead persons of certain Latin American backgrounds to engage in "gratuitous concurrence", answering "yes" to police questions even when it is clear that that these yes-tokens are not truly affirmative responses to those questions. In addition, the book provides evidence of the kinds of abuse that can result from police interrogations that are not electronically recorded. Coerced Confessions reviews appellate cases involving police interpreters spanning a thirty-four-year period, and concludes that the Miranda rights are placed in jeopardy when a police officer is assigned the role of interpreter at a custodial interrogation.

There are many standards, methods and perhaps most confusing, but most importantly of all acronyms in use in the field of quality management, and especially so in the field of technology-based products. From the seemingly simple concepts of ISO 9000 (and the military MIL standards from which that grew) to statistical and analytical methods like Statistical Process Control (SPC) the range of complexity and compliance is staggering. What the average quality engineer or manager needs is a simple guide to what these are, how they relate to one another and most critically how to take advantage of and implement the benefits of each. This book provides that guidance.

Written by a quality consultant with over 20 years experience in precisely these fields, including work with the US Defense Department, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon, and many other leading companies, this book provides an easily digestible toolbox of solutions to quality and management problems for every engineer, manager and even student looking for those answers for the medium to high-technology sector manufacturing company. This is a highly practical book which includes all the major topics in quality as well as case studies from relevant real-world situations yet without the need to wade through reams of reference materials and international standards verbiage. If you need to get to the bottom of problems like these, you need this book.

Targetted at the Technology company engineer and quality manager
Highly illustrated, comprehensive subject coverage
Practical examples and case studies used throughout

Susan Berk-Seligson's groundbreaking book draws on more than one hundred hours of taped recordings of Spanish/English court proceedings in federal, state, and municipal courts along with extensive psycholinguistic research using translated testimony and mock jurors to present a systematic study of court interpreters that raises some alarming, vitally important concerns. Contrary to the assumption that interpreters do not affect the dynamics of court proceedings, Berk-Seligson shows that interpreters could potentially make the difference between a defendant being found guilty or not guilty of a crime. This second edition of the The Bilingual Courtroom includes a fully updated review of both theoretical and policy-oriented research relevant to the use of interpreters in legal settings, particularly from the standpoint of linguistic pragmatics. It provides new insights into interpreting in quasi-judicial, informal, and specialized judicial settings, such as small claims court and in jails and prisons; updates trends in interpreter certification and credentialing, both in the United States and abroad; explores remote interpreting (for example, by telephone) and interpreter training programs; looks at political trials and tribunals to add to our awareness of international perspectives on court interpreting; and expands upon cross-cultural issues. Also featuring a new preface by Berk-Seligson, this second edition not only highlights the impact of the previous versions of The Bilingual Courtroom, but also draws attention to the continued need for critical study of interpreting in our ever diversifying society.