Steven Cammiss

“He Goes off and I Think He Took the Child”: Narrative (Re)Production in the Courtroom

Orientation Prosecutor: Sir, the ABH is upon his partner [. . .] Orientation What seems to have happened is that they have, she’s told him that the relationship is over, she doesn’t want him at the premises. Complication He forces his way into her address—that’s the summary only offence of using violence to secure entry—and she then describes how he assaulted her there so whilst he pushes the door in or kicks the door in, he punches her to the side of her neck which she says causes her to move past. He goes into the living room where the child is—I think the child is about six months old or thereabouts—he picks up the 84 T H E K I N G ’ S C O L L E G E L A W J O U R N A L

Swift and sure justice? Mode of trial for causing death by driving offences

In this article we present empirical evidence on the allocation of causing death by driving offences to explore the inter-relationship between different criminal justice policy goals. Specifically, we look at the decision-making of the various parties involved in such cases: the prosecution in recommending the venue for trials; the defence in deciding whether to plead guilty or to elect trial in the Crown Court; and magistrates in deciding whether to accept jurisdiction or commit to the Crown Court. These decisions are then set within the context of the Government’s desire to achieve ‘swift and sure justice’, promote correct allocation decisions for either-way offences and reduce the number of ‘cracked trials’. The data show that many of these cases are committed to the Crown Court, only to receive a sentence within the powers of magistrates, and that the proportion of cases where this happens is higher than for mainstream offences. Our contention is that although there is something special about the offences under discussion, in that the fact that a death is involved raises issues as to how justice is seen to be done, undue focus is placed upon ‘swift justice’ which generates problems later in the process.

Law and Narrative: Telling Stories in Court.

interest in law and literature is a long overdue recognition of the overlap between these two fields although, to some extent, one suspects that most interest appears to be generated by law in literature rather than law as literature. at its best, law in literature can provide valuable insights into the nature of law and legal rationality, but treating law as literature allows for a direct engagement with legal texts. what we mean by text here is multifaceted; we can think of text in the conventional sense as an amalgam of characters, words, sentences and paragraphs on the printed page or screen, or adopt a wider definition to include, to borrow terminology from conversation analysts, talk-in-interaction. So, at the recent Current Legal issues Colloquium on Law and Language a number of scholars applied literary or other methods of analysis (such as pragmatics, semantics and discourse analysis) to a range of legal texts, be they legislation, court judgments, contracts, pre-recorded witness statements or police interviews. utilising this wider view of text, therefore, allows us to view familiar objects of study through a different lens. the absurdities of courtroom interaction, for instance, may become meaningful if one adopts the perspective of conversation analysis. one is aware that one is drawing the boundaries of law and literature broadly here, to encompass a range of approaches that all share a common, but loose, interdisciplinary approach to the study of legal phenomenon. defining the boundaries of a territorial field is an activity that is inevitably fraught with danger and one that is not necessarily fruitful. it does, however, allow us to see commonalities, as well as discontinuities, in the range of methods adopted in the analysis of law. taking a broad view of law as literature, or law as language, therefore, assists in the critique of law and legal processes. taking one such stream of such law as language research, that which concerns the construction and reception of stories within the

A review of Stories at Trial by Audun Kjus

interest in law and literature is a long overdue recognition of the overlap between these two fields although, to some extent, one suspects that most interest appears to be generated by law in literature rather than law as literature. at its best, law in literature can provide valuable insights into the nature of law and legal rationality, but treating law as literature allows for a direct engagement with legal texts. what we mean by text here is multifaceted; we can think of text in the conventional sense as an amalgam of characters, words, sentences and paragraphs on the printed page or screen, or adopt a wider definition to include, to borrow terminology from conversation analysts, talk-in-interaction. So, at the recent Current Legal issues Colloquium on Law and Language a number of scholars applied literary or other methods of analysis (such as pragmatics, semantics and discourse analysis) to a range of legal texts, be they legislation, court judgments, contracts, pre-recorded witness statements or police interviews. utilising this wider view of text, therefore, allows us to view familiar objects of study through a different lens. the absurdities of courtroom interaction, for instance, may become meaningful if one adopts the perspective of conversation analysis. one is aware that one is drawing the boundaries of law and literature broadly here, to encompass a range of approaches that all share a common, but loose, interdisciplinary approach to the study of legal phenomenon. defining the boundaries of a territorial field is an activity that is inevitably fraught with danger and one that is not necessarily fruitful. it does, however, allow us to see commonalities, as well as discontinuities, in the range of methods adopted in the analysis of law. taking a broad view of law as literature, or law as language, therefore, assists in the critique of law and legal processes. taking one such stream of such law as language research, that which concerns the construction and reception of stories within the