Glossary Spanish Legal Terms1 Latinos Unidos Pilot Study Project2 Appeal(v.) Apelar Appeal (n.) Apelación Aggravated felony Delito con factores agravantes Bond Fianza Criminal justice system Sistema penal Charge Cargo/acusación Defense attorney Abogado defensor Evidence Prueba Felony Delito Fine Multa Handcuffs Esposas Judicial ruling/decision Fallo Immigration status Estado migratorio Insurance Aseguranza Fingerprints Huellas o huellas digitales Hearing Audiencia Misdemeanor Falta o Delito menor To plead guilty Declararse culpable To plead not guilty Declararse inocente Parole Libertad condicional Prisoner Preso, Prisionero Prosecutor Fiscal/Abogado Acusador Pull over Parar Record (criminal) Antecedentes Sentence Pena Trial Juicio Waive Renunciar Sources: English/Spanish Glossary, Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice, January 29, 2004. www.usdoj.gov/crt/genglosarry_esp.html Diccionario de Terminos Legales, Louis A. Robb, Downtown Book Center, July 2001. 1 Prepared by Spring Miller, Research Assistant to Professor Fran Ansley, March 2004 2 Paying close attention to language is critically important in carrying out our research, but we must understand that developing a fixed set of Spanish definitions to convey U.S. legal vocabulary is impossible. As immigrants encounter the local criminal justice system, they forge their own set of terms to make sense of their experiences. This list is a work in progress. It is intended to serve a practical guide to some commonly-used Spanish terms, and to focus the attention of those of us participating in this project on the centrality and complexity of translation in our participatory research work.