Professional Emotions in Court : A Sociological Perspective (Paperback)

List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements 1. Why emotions in court? Emotion and rationality Emotion and law: the research field Emotion, law and morality Morality and objectivity Empathy and emotion management Power emotions The Swedish judicial system Education and the legal professions Prosecutor and prosecution Judge and the court Defence and victim counsels The trial Theoretical framework and key concept Emotion, emotion management, habituation Social interaction, frame, and ritual Power and status Our findings in an international perspective Structure of the book 2. Background emotions in legal professional life The emotional profile of defence lawyers The judge A formative shame/pride moment Pride in status and comfort with power Autonomy General intellectual dealers Procedural justice: an increased service orientation The prosecutor An issue of personality? Mediators, translators, purifiers Committed to justice Independence and collegiality Conclusion 3. Organisational Emotion Management Time as organizing principle Judges: Lamenting the loss of time Prosecutors: Constant lack of time Fear and organisational security work Court fears Prosecution fears Teflon culture: Emotion management as self-discipline Teflon culture in courts Teflon culture at the prosecution office Individualised and collegial emotion management Conclusion 4. The dramaturgy of court emotions Setting the scene for the non-emotional ritual Script and legal terminology Front-stage performance and emotional communication Frontstage collaboration to control emotion The prosecutor’s perspective: Enacting backstage/front-stage Situated adaptation to ordinary surprises Adjusting to the judge: Situated adaptation and emotional toning Tacit signals The judge’s perspective: Backstage preparation and front-stage presentation Focus and strategic emotion management Front-stage strategic empathy Dramaturgical stress Emotional toning: Toning down and toning up emotional expressions Conclusions 5. Power and status in court The autonomous judge: Power issues Power discomfort Personalizing or depersonalizing power? Limitations of power and low status: Negotiating demeanour Power and status in deliberations The independent prosecutor: Status negotiations Prosecutors and the police Prosecutors and the judge Prosecutors and lay people More distance ? less personalized Judge and prosecutor: Power and status challenges Conclusion 6. Objectivity work as situated emotion management Objectivity and impartiality Judges: Justice must be seen to be done Balancing emotional expressions Aesthetic pleasure, satisfaction, and confidence in legal evaluation Prosecutors: Partial objectivity Balancing emotions of commitment and detachment Aesthetic pleasure, satisfaction, and interest in legal encoding Objectivity work as collective achievement Conclusion 7. Concluding discussion Summary The emotive-cognitive judicial frame and the self Refuges of the emotive-cognitive judicial frame Emotional profiles Background emotions in the legal system ? some further reflections References Index