The Language of Jury Trial A Corpus-Aided

Drawing on representative corpora of transcripts from over 100 English criminal jury trials, this stimulating new book explores the nature of 'legal-lay discourse', or the language used by legal professionals before lay juries. Careful analyses of genres such as witness examination and the judge's summing-up reveal a strategic tension between a desire to persuade the jury and the need to conform to legal constraints. The book also suggests ways of managing this tension linguistically to help, not hinder, the jury.

Chris Heffer is a lecturer in the Centre for Language and Communication Research at Cardiff University, Wales, where he teaches forensic linguistics and discourse analysis.

List of Tables, Figures and Texts

x

Acknowledgements

xiii

Conventions

xiv

Introduction

xv

Part I Communication in Jury Trial

1

(92)

Legal-Lay Discourse

3

(34)

Introduction

3

(1)

Discourse

3

(7)

Professional discourse

10

(7)

Cultural-cognitive modes

17

(5)

The modes and discourse

22

(7)

The modes and legal-lay discourse

29

(6)

Conclusion

35

(2)

Coming into Court

37

(28)

Introduction: the courtroom

37

(2)

Doors into court

39

(7)

Communication in court

46

(6)

The transcripts and representation

52

(6)

The corpora and representativeness

58

(5)

Conclusion

63

(2)

The Trial as Complex Genre

65

(28)

Introduction

65

(1)

Perspectives on the trial

65

(7)

The trial as ritual

72

(3)

The opening address and the crime story

75

(2)

Witness examination: the trial as contest

77

(7)

The closing arguments and the trial story

84

(3)

Summing-up and beyond: the trial as judgement

87

(4)

Conclusion

91

(2)

Part II Witness Examination

93

(62)

The Counsel as Narrator

95

(31)

Introduction

95

(1)

Free witness narrative

95

(7)

`Showing' and `telling' in examination-in-chief

102

(8)

Narrating through the witness

110

(10)

Narrating despite the witness: cross-examination

120

(4)

Conclusion

124

(2)

The Counsel as Subject

126

(29)

Introduction

126

(1)

Subjectivity and the cross-examiner

127

(4)

The expression of judgement

131

(4)

Projecting one's case

135

(6)

Evaluative pointing

141

(9)

Evaluative peaks

150

(2)

Conclusion

152

(3)

Part III The Judge's Summing-up

155

(65)

Directing the Jury

157

(25)

Introduction

157

(1)

Helpers and opponents

158

(3)

The summing-up and narrative accommodation

161

(5)

Narrativization and categorization in the proof directions

166

(9)

Knowledge, belief and comprehension

175

(5)

Conclusion

180

(2)

(Re)Viewing the Case

182

(26)

Introduction

182

(1)

The review of evidence and judicial perspective

183

(2)

Language and judicial comment

185

(3)

Linguistic strategies in judicial comment

188

(13)

Perspective and directionality

201

(6)

Conclusion

207

(1)

Conclusion

208

(12)

Review of the evidence: legal-lay discourse in jury trial

208

(4)

Deliberation: some implications for jury trial

212

(6)

Verdict: a bridge between law and life

218

(2)

Appendix 1 Overview of Corpora

220

(1)

Appendix 2 Examinations Copora

221

(3)

Appendix 3 Summing-up Corpus

224

(2)

Notes

226

(4)

References

230

(9)

Index

239

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The Language of Jury Trial A Corpus-Aided Linguistic Analysis of Legal-Lay Discourse

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials