‘Impressed’ by Feelings: How Judges Perceive Defendants’ Emotional Expressions in Danish Courtrooms
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Standard
‘Impressed’ by Feelings: How Judges Perceive Defendants’ Emotional Expressions in Danish Courtrooms. / Johansen, Louise Victoria.
In: Social & Legal Studies, Vol. 28, No. 2, 03.2018, p. 250-269.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘Impressed’ by Feelings: How Judges Perceive Defendants’ Emotional Expressions in Danish Courtrooms
AU - Johansen, Louise Victoria
PY - 2018/3
Y1 - 2018/3
N2 - Emotions constitute an integrated part of crime trials, but the evaluation of these emotions is dependent on broader cultural norms rarely addressed by legal practitioners. Previous research on emotions in the judiciary has also tended to underemphasize this cultural dimension of judges’ assessment of defendants’ emotional expressions. This article presents an ethnographic study of Danish judges’ considerations when they encounter defendants in court and get an impression of their behaviour, emotional state and physical appearance. Combining theories about emotions with intersectionality approaches, the article highlights the processes in which social categories are dynamically shaped through emotions. Judges’ assessments of emotions are mediated through their own cultural understandings, and what counts as ‘appropriate’ emotion is dependent on how the defendant is culturally and systemically situated.
AB - Emotions constitute an integrated part of crime trials, but the evaluation of these emotions is dependent on broader cultural norms rarely addressed by legal practitioners. Previous research on emotions in the judiciary has also tended to underemphasize this cultural dimension of judges’ assessment of defendants’ emotional expressions. This article presents an ethnographic study of Danish judges’ considerations when they encounter defendants in court and get an impression of their behaviour, emotional state and physical appearance. Combining theories about emotions with intersectionality approaches, the article highlights the processes in which social categories are dynamically shaped through emotions. Judges’ assessments of emotions are mediated through their own cultural understandings, and what counts as ‘appropriate’ emotion is dependent on how the defendant is culturally and systemically situated.
KW - Courts
KW - embodiment
KW - emotion
KW - intersectionality theory
KW - judges
KW - social categorization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85044472479&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0964663918764004
DO - 10.1177/0964663918764004
M3 - Journal article
VL - 28
SP - 250
EP - 269
JO - Social and Legal Studies
JF - Social and Legal Studies
SN - 0964-6639
IS - 2
ER -
ID: 188482243