The present study is a corpus-based study which examines social roles constructed in the British nineteenth-century courtroom. To discover the prevalent social roles in British nineteenth-century society the present study focuses on premodifying adjectives characterizing men and women. The method of classification is through semantic domains. The study shows that the social roles of men and women are more similar than the findings of previous research have demonstrated.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Florida, 1981. / Description based on print version record. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-142).

Gathering evidence from young and vulnerable witnesses requires special care, and subjecting them to the traditional adversarial form of examination and cross-examination – often characterized by overly leading, complex, and confusing questioning – has come under increased scrutiny. The present program of research was designed to investigate: 1) four features of lawyers’ questioning techniques (question type [Chapter 1], linguistic complexity [Chapter 2], question repetition [Chapter 3], and question content [Chapter 4]), 2) how these parameters affected children’s responses (including an in-depth analysis of children’s propensity to express uncertainty [Chapter 5]), and 3) whether the children’s ages affected the ways they were questioned or how they responded. The sample of court transcripts was drawn from 36 trials involving 56 children aged 5 to 17 years old who testified about alleged sexual abuse in Scotland between 2009 and 2014. Analyses showed that a large proportion of the questions posed to children by lawyers were suggestive questions that implied expected responses or introduced undisclosed information. Questions were overly complex linguistically, heavily repetitious, and focused to a large extent on peripheral elements of the allegations. In response, children acquiesced to suggestions most of the time and expressed uncertainty less than might be expected, given the nature of the questioning. Overall, both prosecutors and defense lawyers were insensitive to the capacities of children of different ages. The way children are questioned in court can have negative influences on the quality of the evidence obtained, regardless of the lawyers’ roles or the children’s ages. It is suggested that, in order for trials to be fair, evidence needs to be elicited in accordance with research-informed best-practice guidelines. More advanced training, the use of intermediaries, and the Barnahus model are discussed as potential ways to support the implementation of best-practice questioning strategies.

abstract: Municipal courtrooms are brimming with a variety of positive and negative emotions from defendants who are primarily encountering the criminal justice system for the first time. Municipal court judges and bailiffs must work together and find ways to communicate important information about courtroom processes to up to 70-120 defendants a day. This dissertation investigates how municipal court judges and bailiffs from two municipal courthouses respond to three organizational challenges associated with emotion--defendant confusion about courtroom processes, handling high caseloads while treating defendants as customers of the court, and managing the serious and tedious emotional moods of the courtroom environment. Using qualitative methods of observation and informal and formal interviews, this dissertation analyzes how emotion cycles between judges and bailiffs help give sense to and break sense of defendants while simultaneously helping them navigate the challenges of their work. Findings detail the nature of work in municipal court--explaining the challenges associated with emotion that judges and bailiffs face on a daily basis. The data also describes the emotional roles that judges and bailiffs employ in the courtroom. The judges' emotional roles include tension relievers, order enforcers, and care takers. Bailiffs' emotional roles comprise rule enforcers, toxin handlers, and do gooders. The heart of the analysis explores how judges and bailiffs give sense to defendants when unexpected situations manifest in the courtroom and break sense of defendants who hold incorrect or less favored beliefs about courtroom procedures. The emotional displays and responses of judges, bailiffs, primary defendants (defendants before the judge), and third party defendants (those watching in the audience) enable sensegiving and sensebreaking to occur. The emotion cycles allow courtroom staff to impact the sensemaking process of defendants in a fast and efficient manner. Theoretical implications include extensions of emotion cycle research through a consideration of the displays and responses of primary agents, intermediate agents, and primary recipients of emotional displays. Practical implications describe how specific training practices and space for employee discussion could enhance the workplace wellness of judges and bailiffs. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Communication 2012

abstract: A sample of 193 participants viewed one of six variations of an eyewitness giving mock testimony. Each participant viewed testimony, which varied by level of emotion (none, moderate, or high) and frame (waist-up or head only). Participants then rated the witness using the Brodsky Witness Credibility Scale and the Reyson Likability Scale. A set of ANOVA's was performed revealing an effect of emotion level on both credibility and likability. Emotion level was found to influence participant judgments of poise, however, to a lesser degree than judgments of credibility and likability. These results suggest that attorneys may want to avoid the use of videoconferencing with certain types of witnesses where testimony may be highly emotional. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Psychology 2014

This thesis examines the composition of affective atmospheres, emerging in court sessions of criminal matter in Vienna. The notion of atmosphere is used to explore collective affective qualities, emerging through the interplay between affective bodies and their environment. The focus provides as analytical frame for bringing forward the workings of affect in legal procedures. From a starting point in theories of affect and atmosphere, I cast light at how the affectively charged space is both monitored and beyond control. First, I trace affect through the lens of spatial arrangements of courtrooms. I show how the architectural and interior arrangements and aesthetics of courtrooms are expedient in creating resonance between the bodies and control over the situations, while being visual and material representations of law. Second, I trace affect in the relation between the bodies that produce atmosphere and regard for the bodily capacity to affect and be affected. I consider principles of criminal procedure structuring and disciplining affective bodies in courtrooms and the juridical labour entailing work on emotions. Third, I trace affect in the dynamics and changes of affective atmosphere by showing how atmospheric changes come about and are contested through intensification and ruptures in atmosphere. I discuss the compositions of affective atmosphere in relation to discipline and control converging with bodies entering the legal setting. The ethnographic material is collected through participant observation in one hundred court sessions, as well as through interviews with people involved.

Thesis advisor: Richard Atkins / The topic of this thesis is testimonial epistemic injustice in the courtroom context. Testimonial epistemic injustice occurs when someone’s testimony is unduly downgraded (credibility deficit) or unduly upgraded (credibility excess) due to a structural social prejudice held by the listener. Examples of structural social prejudices are prejudices concerning race, gender, class, and degree of education obtained by the testifier. Credibility assessments are influenced by listeners’ biases, the social context of the interaction, and the perceived disposition of the testifier. In this paper, I intend to examine (1) what testimonial epistemic injustice is and (2) what can be done to address testimonial epistemic injustice in courtrooms. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Scholar of the College. / Discipline: Philosophy.

The nature of capital punishment cases makes mortality a highly salient factor during trial proceedings. Previous research has explored the effect of mortality salience on human’s decision making in a legal context. This study extends this vein of research by examining the role death plays in jurors’ psychological processes when sentencing a defendant who is severely mentally ill in a capital trial. The current experiment measured mock jurors’ (n=169) and college students’, n=116) Mental Illness Worldview (MIWV), and then experimentally manipulated type of mortality salience (dual-focused: mock jurors who were specifically asked to contemplate their own mortality and were exposed to trial-related death references vs. trial focused: only exposed to death references) and the type of defendant (severely mentally ill vs. neutral) accused of a capital offense. We found that mock jurors perceived mental illness to be a mitigating factor when dual (i.e., self) focused mortality salience was induced, whereas participants only exposed to trial-related death references considered mental illness to be an important aggravating factor in sentencing.

In the legal and mental health fields little is known about the therapeutic impact of courtroom psychology during criminal trials. The purpose of this research study was to investigate the inter-relating factors of law and psychology throughout criminal trials as experienced by lawyers and psychologists. Research questions explored the influence of courtroom psychology on criminal trial proceedings and challenges as experienced by both criminal trial attorneys in presenting mental health evidence, and by psychologists when testifying during criminal trials. Further exploration focused on the significance of courtroom psychology, and how lawyers and psychologists perceived courtroom psychology impacting justice for victims and influencing offender rehabilitation sentencing decisions. Procedural justice was the conceptual framework utilized in this investigation, and therapeutic jurisprudence was the theoretical base that guided this study. A qualitative-phenomenological research design was applied by interviewing 4 criminal law attorneys and 4 clinical forensic psychologists. Four themes emerged from the thematic analysis of the data collected: (a) an increase in the enhancement of psycho-legal services, (b) a need for additional education, (c) a desire to improve professional relationships through collaborative efforts, and (d) a demand for requiring advanced training. These results may serve as a foundation for professionals to provide ethically effective and relevant legal-therapeutic services for progressing courtroom psychology measures. Implications for positive social change from this research include recommendations to government, legal, and mental health system entities to consider generating and readjusting standards of practice that govern criminal trial proceedings.

Described in this thesis is research that examined the influence of courtroom symbolism on jurors' ability to focus on the evidence presented in a criminal trial. This research is unique as participants were 'real' jurors who had, at the time of participation in the research, recently completed deliberations on a District Court trial. To date no other research has explored the interaction between symbolism in the courtroom and the juror experience. The broad research question examined in this research was: Do symbolic elements in the courtroom environment draw juror attention away from the evidence being presented?. Three theories drawn from environmental psychology were utilised in this research (i.e., environmental uncertainty theory, environmental arousal theory and environmental load theory). Additionally, Rapoport's (1983, 1990) theory, which was drawn from the architectural field of knowledge, was utilised. Rapoport's theory facilitated the measurement of symbolism in the form of environmental cues found in the courtroom. To address the broad research question, eight subordinate research questions were formulated those being: (1) Do trait anxiety and court related factors influence the amount of attention jurors pay to the elements of the courtroom environment?, (2) Do trait anxiety and court related factors influence the effect on jurors of the attention they paid to the elements of the courtroom environment?, (3) Do trait anxiety and court related factors influence the sense of stress or arousal in jurors?, (4) Is there an association between attention paid by jurors to the environmental cues found in the courtroom, their ability to perform their role as a juror and their sense of appreciation for the function of the law?, (5) Is there an association between attention paid by jurors to the environmental cues in the courtroom and a state of elevated stress?, (6) Does the amount of attention paid by jurors to environmental cues found in the courtroom diminish over time?, (7) Does the effect on jurors of the attention they paid to the environmental cues in the courtroom diminish over time? and, (8) Does the amount of stress jurors experience diminish over time?. The eight research questions were addressed in two studies. The first involved a survey of jurors who had completed deliberations in District Court trials in Brisbane and Cairns during the period 19th July, 2001 and 18th July, 2002 (N=192). This study examined the amount of attention jurors paid to four elements of the courtroom environment (i.e., the courtroom design, the appearance and behaviour of court officials, the appearance and behaviour of those associated with the offence and the task of being a juror). Also examined in this study was the influence on jurors of the attention they paid to the elements of the courtroom environment. Juror experience of state anxiety as measured by the State Trait Anxiety Inventory [STAI] (Spielberger, 1983) was also examined. Additionally, the influence of trait anxiety as measured by the STAI (Spielberger, 1983) and court related factors (i.e., location of trial, prior jury experience, nature of the offence and length of trial) on the juror experience was examined. Two time frames were examined (i.e., initial contact with the courtroom and midpoint of juror experience) which allowed the examination of the influence of time on the juror experience. Interviews with jurors who had completed the survey (N=19) comprised the second study. This study allowed jurors to describe their experience on a jury from a more personal perspective. The elements of the juror experience that distracted and reinforced their ability to focus on the evidence and facilitated a sense of appreciation for the function of the law were discussed. Also discussed were the elements of the juror experience that caused jurors to experience anxiety. Overall, the findings of this research indicated that although symbolism in the courtroom was linked to juror anxiety, this was positive and facilitated juror attention to the evidence and a sense of respect for the criminal justice system. That anxiety experienced by jurors facilitated their focus on the evidence is consistent with environmental arousal theory in that for optimum performance one must experience a certain level of arousal. Also confirmed by the findings of this research is environmental load theory, an element of which predicts that jurors will be task driven when experiencing environmental load. That these two theories are linked by an underlying construct is evidenced by the findings of this research. These findings open up possibilities for future theoretical research using environmental arousal theory and environmental load theory. The findings of this research also suggest that jurors found the symbolism in the courtroom environment distracting and that some elements of the juror experience were onerous and stressful. However, previous experience in the courtroom and lower trait anxiety moderated these factors. Consequently, consistent with the results of this research courts might benefit from implementing an orientation program for prospective jurors such that they are familiarised with the courtroom environment. Such a program would moderate any distress experienced by jurors. In the context of such adjustments by the courts, the influence of symbolism in the courtroom are considered beneficial to the juror experience and there is no need for the courts to alter the courtroom setting or robing practices of lawyers.