Glossary topic

Plea and sentencing vocabulary in Spanish and English

The plea colloquy and the sentencing hearing are where the judge speaks longest and most formally. Rights are listed and waived one by one, the plea agreement is read into the record, and the sentence is pronounced with terms of years, conditions, fines and credits. These passages are a favorite for the simultaneous section of the oral exam because they run at a steady pace and are dense with fixed legal phrases.

Renditions below come from the Washington, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Alabama glossaries. Florida's withhold of adjudication and the phrase credit for time served are not in any of the official lists we checked, so they are handled in the FAQ rather than given an answer-key rendition.

The moment

The judge reads from the plea form while you interpret simultaneously into the defendant's headset: "Mr. Herrera, you are giving up your right to a jury trial, your right to confront and cross-examine the witnesses against you, your right to remain silent, and your right to call witnesses on your own behalf. Do you understand that? Has anyone threatened you or promised you anything other than what is in this agreement? Are you entering this plea knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily?" After the factual basis is stipulated, the judge sentences: twelve months of probation, forty hours of community service, a five-hundred-dollar fine plus court costs, restitution of $1,240 to the victim, and no contact with her. The defendant's questions to his attorney about what probation means come to you in Spanish.

English	Spanish	Sources
Plea agreement	convenio / acuerdo declaratorio	WA
Plea bargain	acuerdo declaratorio / acuerdo de reducción de pena WA. CT: convenio declaratorio. AL and WI: acuerdo de reducción de sentencia, convenio de declaración.	WACTALWI
Plea bargain (the process)	negociación para declararse culpable	ALWI
Plea negotiations	negociaciones declaratorias	WA
Plead guilty	declararse culpable AL, CT, WI and WA all agree.	ALCTWIWA
Guilty plea	declaración de culpabilidad	WACT
No contest	no me opongo / ni afirmo ni niego / nolo contendere	WA
Knowingly	a sabiendas	WA
Knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily	a sabiendas, con conocimiento de causa, y voluntariamente / consciente e intencionadamente	CT
Voluntarily	voluntariamente	WA
Voluntarily and of your own free will	libre y voluntariamente	CT
Factual basis	fundamentos de hecho / fundamento CT: fundamentos de hecho. WA: fundamento.	CTWA
Stipulate	estipular / concordar	WA
Stipulation	estipulación CT and WA agree.	CTWA
Waive the right	renunciar al derecho / desistir del derecho CT. WA: renunciar a.	CTWA
Waiver of rights	renuncia de derechos	CT
Jury	jurado AL, WA and WI agree.	ALWAWI
Bench trial	juicio sin jurado / juicio ante el juez AL and WI: juicio sin jurado. WA: juicio ante el juez.	ALWIWA
Cross-examine	contrainterrogar / repreguntar	WA
Beyond a reasonable doubt	más allá de toda duda razonable WA. AL and WI: más allá de una duda (fuera de duda) razonable. CT: fuera de toda duda razonable.	WAALWICT
Presumption of innocence	presunción de inocencia	WA
Remain silent	guardar silencio	WA
Conviction	condena / fallo condenatorio AL, WI and CT agree on both forms.	ALWICT
Sentence (noun)	condena / pena WA: condena, pena, castigo. CT adds fallo, sentencia. AL and WI: sentencia, pena.	WACTALWI
Sentence (verb)	condenar / imponer la pena / imponer la condena WA and CT agree on imponer la pena.	WACT
Sentencing hearing	audiencia para dictar la condena / audiencia para imponer la pena	WA
Pre-sentence report	informe precondenatorio / informe previo a la condena	WA
Presentence investigation	investigación precondenatoria	CT
Sentencing guidelines	pautas para la imposición de la pena / normas de condena	WA
Aggravating circumstances	circunstancias agravantes WA. CT: elementos agravantes, agravantes.	WACT
Mitigating circumstances	circunstancias atenuantes / circunstancias mitigantes	WA
Mandatory minimum sentence	pena mínima obligatoria	WA
Concurrent sentences	penas simultáneas / condenas concurrentes WA. CT: condena simultánea, pena concurrente.	WACT
Consecutive sentences	penas consecutivas / condenas consecutivas WA. CT: condena sucesiva, pena consecutiva.	WACT
Suspended sentence	condena suspendida / pena suspendida WA and CT agree on pena suspendida.	WACT
Deferred sentence	condena aplazada / pena aplazada	WA
Deferred prosecution	enjuiciamiento postergado	WA
Diverted sentence	sentencia a un programa de excarcelación	ALWI
Pretrial intervention (PTI)	intervención antes del juicio / programa de intervención previo al juicio AL and WI: intervención antes del juicio. CT: programa de intervención previo al juicio.	ALWICT
Conditional discharge	libertad condicional / libertad condicionada	CT
Probation	libertad a prueba AL, CT, WA and WI agree. WA also lists libertad probatoria; CT lists libertad vigilada, libertad condicional.	ALCTWAWI
Probation officer	agente de probatoria / oficial del Departamento de Libertad a Prueba / agente de libertad vigilada WA, then AL and WI, then CT.	WAALWICT
Violation of probation	violación de las condiciones de la libertad probatoria / infringir las condiciones de la libertad a prueba CT, then AL and WI.	CTALWI
Parole	libertad condicional AL, CT and WA agree. WA also lists libertad vigilada; CT lists libertad bajo palabra, libertad preparatoria.	ALCTWA
Restitution	restitución / indemnización / reparaciones	WA
Fine (noun)	multa CT and WA agree.	CTWA
Court costs	costas judiciales / costas procesales AL: costas judiciales. CT: costas procesales.	ALCT
Community service	servicio a la comunidad / servicio comunitario AL, CT and WI: servicio a la comunidad. WA: servicio comunitario.	ALCTWIWA
Serve a sentence	cumplir la condena / cumplir una pena WA and CT agree; both also list purgar or compurgar.	WACT
Jail term	período de encarcelamiento	ALWI
Imprisonment	reclusión / prisión	WA
Life sentence	condena a prisión perpetua / cadena perpetua	WA
House arrest	arresto domiciliario AL, WA and WI agree.	ALWAWI
Work release	permiso condicional para trabajar / libertad para trabajar	WA
Right of allocution	derecho a la última palabra	WA
Expunge	borrar / cancelar / tachar	CT
Seal the records	sellar el expediente	WA
Appeal (noun)	apelación WA and CT agree; CT also lists recurso.	WACT

How raters score these

Plea colloquies are scored on completeness. The judge lists four or five rights in one sentence, and each right is its own scoring unit, so "you are giving up your right to a jury trial, to confront witnesses, and to remain silent" loses a unit for every right you drop. The adverb string knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily is a single fixed phrase in the Connecticut glossary and raters expect all three parts. At sentencing the numbers take over: months of probation, hours of community service, the fine, the restitution amount and the credit for days served are separate units, and concurrent versus consecutive is a meaning unit that changes the outcome. Keep libertad a prueba for probation and libertad condicional for parole; swapping them is the most common sentencing error raters flag.

Common questions

What is the difference between probation and parole in Spanish?

Probation is libertad a prueba in all four core glossaries (Washington also accepts libertad probatoria). Parole is libertad condicional in Alabama, Connecticut and Washington. Connecticut lists libertad condicional for probation too, which is why candidates confuse them; on the exam, keep libertad a prueba for probation and libertad condicional for parole.

How do I interpret credit for time served?

It is not in the Washington, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Alabama, New Jersey or California glossaries checked for this page, so no answer-key rendition is listed. In practice interpreters say crédito por el tiempo cumplido or se le abona el tiempo que ya estuvo detenido; the number of days is the scoring unit either way.

Is there a Spanish term for Florida's withhold of adjudication?

No consortium glossary we checked lists it. The concept (a finding of guilt without a formal conviction) is specific to Florida and a few other states. If you interpret in Florida, use the form your circuit's certified interpreters use and be ready to explain it; on the consortium exam it is unlikely to appear.

Do raters accept sentencia for sentence?

Alabama, Wisconsin and Connecticut list sentencia; Washington prefers condena or pena. All are accepted for the noun. Be careful with the verb: sentenciar is common speech, but the glossaries give condenar or imponer la pena, and the phrase se le impone una pena de reads as court register.

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Sources