4.2 Cotterill
Janet Cotterill. (2014). The Construction of Identities in the Criminal Courtroom: Criminals, Victims and Crimes as Construed in Scottish Judges’ Sentencing Statements. International Journal of Law, Language & Discourse 4(2), 46-74..
Introduction: Within the courtroom context, there are a number of key individuals who conduct the majority of the interaction. These include the obvious participants: judge, lawyers, (barristers and solicitors in the UK), witnesses, defendants, interpreters and jurors. Added to these are the peripheral participants: court ushers, attendants, security officials, court reporters and so on. Finally, there are a number of ‘unofficial’ individuals present in the courtroom, comprising members of the public gallery, who may be relatives or friends of the victim/witness/defendant as well as journalists attending the trial to report on its progress, outcome and any ensuing dramas. The majority of these ‘peripheral’ participants are present in a non-verbal context; in other words, they do not contribute to the discourse of the court and their contributions, if any, are not recorded in the court record. It is important to note that these participants are divided into two significantly different categories, both in terms of legal training and power to engage verbally during the trial, although these do not necessarily correspond.
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Category: Volume 4
