Who Is the Declarant of the English Translation of the Defendant's Out-of-Court Foreign Language Statement? An "Authenticated Conduit Theory"

This thesis contends that the declarant of the English-language translation of an LEP suspect’s out-of-court testimony “must” become no one else but the suspect, not by making the interpreter the suspect’s “agent” through the application of FRE 801(d)(2)(C) or (D), but by ensuring that every interpreter passes muster as a true “language conduit” to enable the application of FRE 801(d)(2)(A). The “agent-and-conduit interpreter” theory is a dominant U.S. case law that has dealt with the hearsay issue of an interpreter-assisted extrajudicial testimonial statement. To enable the application of “a party opponent’s vicarious admission” stipulated by FRE 801(d)(2)(C) or (D), the theory claims that when two parties begin an interpreter-assisted conversation, the interpreter becomes a “dual agent” for both parties, who presume that the interpreter is acting as a language “conduit” with prima facie accurate translations. This hybrid legal theory of the traditional agency law and a 20th-century legal fiction about a foreign-language interpreter, however, embodies critical logic dilemmas, especially faced with the renewed Confrontation Clause challenge from Crawford. The thesis, comprising two main research results: a legal research and a forensic-linguistic research, calls for a complete overhaul of the “agent-and-conduit” theory used for the application of FRE 801(d)(2)(C) or (D), by maintaining that it be replaced by a new implementation of the 21st-century-style “authenticated conduit” measure that will enable the application of FRE 801(d)(2)(A) instead. In Part I: Legal Research, the thesis demonstrates that no “agency relationship” takes place between the suspect and the interpreter in a police interview for the reason that the suspect neither consents to it nor controls the interpreter. The thesis further argues that imposition on the suspect of any such consent to an assumed agency relationship with an interpreter will violate the suspect’s “non-waivable” Fifth Amendment due process right against “potential verballing.” The thesis then advocates a realization of a “true conduit” that will enable the application of FRE 801(d)(2)(A), by exerting 21st-century technological and intellectual resources that are becoming increasingly advanced, accessible, and available. Also, to attest to the adequacy of attaining a “true conduit,” the thesis demonstrates that the “true conduit” notion is also in harmony with the doctrine of the copyright law on the protectible elements of the original copyright that continue to exist in its translation. To achieve the “true conduit,” the thesis calls for mandatory introduction of video recording of interpreter-assisted custodial police interviews and mandatory authentication of the interpreter’s translation accuracy by a certified court interpreter who will also act as an expert witness. Part II: Forensic-Linguistic Research is an empirical substantiation for Part I, in the form of an action-study analysis, using an authentic recording of a custodial police interview with a Dari interpreter. The thesis demonstrates that though there are certain ways, such as turn-taking cycles, rendition and pause time comparisons, monolingual extra round-trips, etc., by which monolingual parties (the police and the suspect) in a police interview can assess the interpreter’s accuracy and reliability, there is a maximum limit to such indirect accuracy confirmation without a complete check-translation. The research empirically demonstrates that an authenticated check translation is absolutely crucial for fact-triers’ determination of the interpreting accuracy and impartiality, a result that strongly supports not only the introduction of digital recording but also mandatory production of an authenticated complete transcript of such check translation

Intensive exposure to narrative in story books as a possibly effective treatment of social perspective-taking in schoolchildren with autism.

One of the major characteristics of autism is impairment of communication and socialization. While such impairment per se has been well documented, research into effective interventions for children with this developmental disorder is still limited. Here we present preliminary evidence for the possibility of improvement of the capability of social perspective-taking in schoolchildren with autism by having intensive experience with narrative, in which they were exposed to narrative in story books read by their parents over a consecutive 5- to 6-day-period. When their capability was evaluated on the basis of a conventional role-taking task, the mean score tended to increase after the exposure as compared to before the exposure, whereas such a change was not recorded in children who did not experience such exposure. These effects were confirmed when the children were retested 4 months later. Although preliminary, the current study represents a step toward the development of more effective social perspective-taking interventions for children with autism

Involvement of genetic factors in early development of bronchial asthma in Japanese infants with atopic dermatitis. Results of a 1 year follow-up study

Bronchial asthma (BA) often develops in children with atopic dermatitis (AD). To clarify the usefulness of AD in infants as a predictor for the later development of BA, we examined the prevalence of and the risk factors for the later development of BA in infants with AD in four prefectures in Japan. We registered 157 infants with AD (100 boys and 57 girls) for the study and 151 infants (95 boys and 56 girls) were successfully followed up for a mean duration of 1 year. Atopic dermatitis was cured and improved in 23 and 70% of the patients, respectively, during the follow-up period. Boys developed mite allergy more frequently than did girls during the follow-up period (P<0.05). Twelve boys and two girls were diagnosed as having BA during the period, without any correlation with the outcome of the AD, and 12 boys developed wheezing but were not diagnosed as having BA by a physician. Male sex, a positive family history of BA, but not that of AD, and the appearance of mite-specific IgE during the follow-up period were identified as significant risk factors for the development of BA. The combination of a positive family history of BA and mite-specific IgE and the same combination in the boys had high specificity (55 and 56%, respectively) and sensitivity (60 and 50%, respectively) as risk factors. The data suggest the involvement of genetic factors in the early development of BA in young children with AD and indicate that AD in infants and young children with these risk factors is a useful predictor for the development of BA within a short period