Keywords
Death Penalty, Jurors
Document Type
Article
Abstract
This paper explores the role that language plays in capital jurors’ sentencing decisions. The research is based on ethnographic fieldwork in Texas death penalty trials, which included post-verdict interviews with jurors who served on those trials. A comparative linguistic analysis was conducted in which the language used in trial, including attorneys’ and judges’ talk in court and jurors’ written instructions, was compared with the language of jurors’ post-verdict interview responses. The paper explores how jurors negotiated the moral difficulty of sentencing another human being to death. The analysis reveals that jurors used language modeled for them in trial as a resource to deny empathy with defendants, thereby justifying sentencing them to death. The paper also illustrates that jurors used particular linguistic constructions to deny their own responsibility for defendants’ sentences, placing the onus elsewhere, such as on the judge or the “law.” The paper concludes with a summary of recommendations to defense attorneys for ways to incorporate the findings into death penalty practice.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.21428/b6e95092.ab0b7e72
Recommended Citation
Conley-Riner, Robin
(2017)
"Discourses of Death: The Influence of Language on Capital Jurors’ Decisions.,"
Journal of Criminal Justice and Law: Vol. 1:
Iss.
1, Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21428/b6e95092.ab0b7e72
Available at:
https://research.library.kutztown.edu/jcjl/vol1/iss1/3