From judge to police officer: a lack of understanding for deaf people in legal proceedings
The cultural linguistic minority group of deaf people who communicate using sign language systematically experiences limited access to fundamental rights. Linguist Joni Oyserman identified this problem and has received a Meijers grant to fund her investigation.
Joni Oyserman is deaf and communicates through Dutch Sign Language. However, her words are still loud and clear thanks to her interpreter who translates the grammar of Oyserman’s hand signals and body language into spoken Dutch. Sign language is a visual language, and deaf people can fully express themselves through their facial expressions, eyes, hands and bodies. Hence the deaf community’s clear need for interpreters who understand complex information and developments in legal proceedings. But Oyserman has observed that deaf people are at risk of their rights being compromised when there is no interpreter present –from a parking fine landing on the mat to a final judgment.
Exercising your fundamental rights is not a given for a deaf person
Legal experts: lack of linguistic and cultural awareness
Oyserman works as a researcher at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society and as a skills teacher in Dutch Sign Language at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics. As the Chair of the Adviescollege Nederlandse Gebarentaal (Advisory Board for Dutch Sign Language), she advises the Dutch Minister of the Interior. She previously conducted a study into obstacles that deaf people face in accessing their rights. Her research revealed that deaf people are disadvantaged by the legal profession not knowing sign language and viewing communication problems as personal shortcomings among deaf people. From a restraining order to a court summons to a council notice, legal documentation is inaccessible for the deaf community.
Access to rights
Oyserman explains: ‘Recognition for Dutch Sign Language is barely reflected in legal proceedings at all. There’s a chasm between legal professionals and deaf people, who also experience it that way. Any deaf person who appears as a defendant in a courtroom of hearing people will depend on an interpreter. That’s an intense experience and reinforces the chasm you experience anyway as a deaf person. In fact, exercising your fundamental rights is not a given for a deaf person – such as the right to a proper defence and the opportunity to testify. Being able to express your side of the case, in person, in the courtroom, in your own language and choice of words.’
Malpractice during proceedings
Oyserman developed the idea for this research when she became aware of instances of malpractice. It also emerged in the case law she was reading. She continues: ‘The deaf community is small. Stories circulate and are soon exchanged. Deaf people are not treated equally – they’re belittled and treated as inferior. I wanted to explore those stories.’
Oyserman’s research involves a detailed study of court reports, observations in courtrooms and interviews with deaf people, court interpreters, lawyers, judges, public prosecutors, clerks and civic organisations. It will draw on theories about access to rights, procedural justice and deaf studies. Through her study, Oyserman also hopes to contribute to access to justice and procedural justice among other minority groups.
My academic journey has been long and not particularly smooth
Measures
Oyserman hopes that the study will result in measures to better safeguard the rights of deaf people. A website containing comprehensive information for judges, lawyers, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service and deaf people could be a helpful step, as would training and funding for interpreters. Professionalisation, conferences and workshops, and especially more academic knowledge would help too, says Oyserman. She’s looking forward to giving guest lectures to promote a deeper understanding of deaf people’s perceptions and culture.
Joni Oyserman also appears in Going Beyond Gender. In this short film, she explains the challenges she has faced in the academic world. ‘My academic journey has been long and not particularly smooth. Ever since my primary school’s recommendation for the level of my secondary education, I’ve been underrated just because I’m deaf. They assumed I wasn’t so clever. But I am intelligent and I’ve had to fight hard to show it. And I’m not alone – there are lots of deaf people who’ve had similar experiences.’
2024 Meijers grant winners
This year, Leiden Law School made two Meijers PhD positions available to talented researchers. One was an open position, while the other was a position for participants in the Pre-PhD Programme (PPP). The open position for candidates both within and outside of Leiden University was awarded to Joni Oyserman. The other position, the PPP, went to Joyce Schot from the Department of Criminology.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to create positions through matching, as was the case in previous years, given the current challenges that the faculty is facing as a whole.
This year’s jury comprised Katrien Klep (Chair), Philippe van Gruisen, Marloes van Noorloos, Hans-Martien ten Napel and Tim Lubbers.
The jury was very impressed by the quality of the research proposals submitted by the candidates. Katrien Klep: ‘The proposals were very different in terms of content, and they were also very diverse from a methodology perspective. This shows that the next generation of researchers is exploring the legal questions that need to be asked in light of the developments of our time and is addressing those questions in innovative ways. Partly as a result of this, the interviews enabled very interesting exchanges of ideas, with candidates showing a high level of academic curiosity.’
Oyserman will conduct her research at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society. Her supervisors are Professor Rogier Hartendorp and Dr Nadia Sonneveld, and the title of her research proposal is ‘Hands of the Unheard. A socio-legal investigation into Access to Justice of deaf Sign Language users engaging with the Dutch legal system’. She will start her research in September 2024.
Jan-Willem Oomen
Foto Iris Kamphuis