I observed several homicide trials in both São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, and Ribeirão Preto, a major regional urban center 200 miles further northwest. I chose jury trials because I assumed that there would be enough similarities to be able to compare “oranges to oranges” in my quest to improve my bilingual English-Portuguese legal glossary for court interpreting in Florida.Īfter working in many jury trials in Miami-Dade and Broward counties federal and state courts as a Portuguese and Spanish interpreter, I was surprised to learn that jury trials in Brazil were limited to libel and defamation cases when they were initially implemented in 1822. Nevertheless, Brazil stands as the Sunshine State’s number one foreign trading partner and plays a significant role in the demand for foreign language services in South Florida’s state and federal courts. Portuguese speakers constitute a relatively small minority in Florida. I wanted something more real than the legal interpreting workshops being offered, and this certainly met my expectations. This was the political background as I set out to observe Brazilian jury trials during two weeks in the Fall of 2016. These actions further renewed hopes that the South American nation may have turned a corner in the fight against corruption among powerful elites that for decades eluded efforts to punish financial wrongdoings. Later, the arrest and prosecution of prominent public officials and private sector businessmen, together with the publicly released prosecution wiretaps of illegal payoffs, suddenly thrust the country’s legal system into the limelight. The Brazilian judicial system gained international notoriety in 2016 amid investigations of systematic government corruption that led to the downfall and impeachment of former president Dilma Roussef. Ministry of Justice entrance, Brasilia, Brazil Frequently Asked Questions (Membership).Judiciary Interpreting and Legal Translation Bibliography & Database.
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