L'interpretazione in ambito giuridico: un'indagine conoscitiva nella citta di Arezzo.

This dissertation discusses the situation of legal interpreting in Italy. The aim is to describe the legislative framework of the linguistic assistance provided in this area in Italy, point out the shortcomings in the provision of this service, including the difficulties faced by legal interpreters, and investigate whether the Italian legislation on the matter is correctly applied in the city of Arezzo by interviewing people who work with legal interpreters in police stations, courthouses and the prison. Chapter 1 aims to give an overview on the presence of non-Italian speaking people in Italy, such as foreign residents, foreign tourists and migrants. There follows a description of the situation of foreign-born arrestees. Chapter 2 focuses on the legal framework of the linguistic assistance provided in Italian legal settings. It contains an analysis of the articles of several Codes of Criminal Procedure in force in different historical states of Italy that refer to the position of the interpreter, and a detailed description of the current legislation. Chapter 3 analyses the most frequent difficulties acknowledged by the interpreters, as well as several problems arising due to an incomplete implementation of the EU directives in Italy’s legislation. Chapter 4 deals with the situation of legal interpreting in Arezzo. Interviews were carried out with people who work frequently with interpreters in the city’s police stations, courthouses and prison. Moreover, the person in charge of the service of cultural mediation in the city was also interviewed. The problems acknowledged by the interviewees are presented. Chapter 5 describes the training projects promoted by the European Union. Two proposals are then made, aimed at improving the linguistic assistance provided in legal settings: to offer specific training courses and to create a national register for legal interpreters.