Moral legitimation in capital trials: the case of the prosecution’s closing summation

IF 0.8 3区 文学 Q3 COMMUNICATION Text & Talk Pub Date : 2022-02-28 DOI:10.1515/text-2020-0129
Krisda Chaemsaithong
{"title":"Moral legitimation in capital trials: the case of the prosecution’s closing summation","authors":"Krisda Chaemsaithong","doi":"10.1515/text-2020-0129","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Underpinned by the assumption that the legitimacy of a social practice is obtained discursively, this study proposes a linguistically-grounded model for examining moral legitimation in the sentencing phase of capital trials. Drawing upon state lawyers’ closing speech in six capital trials (Indiana, USA), the study identifies key strategies the State uses to justify death and explores their ideological basis. The quantitative findings indicate that moral legitimation is integral to this genre, and, qualitatively speaking, the State relies to a great extent on strategies such as naming labels, assignment of agency, and evaluation, respectively. This is followed by emotion-based reasoning and analogy. It is argued that the reliance on moral legitimation treats death as a natural corollary of such moral characterizations and precludes the discussion of the life-sentence option.","PeriodicalId":46455,"journal":{"name":"Text & Talk","volume":"42 1","pages":"849 - 870"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2022-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Text & Talk","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2020-0129","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1

Abstract

Abstract Underpinned by the assumption that the legitimacy of a social practice is obtained discursively, this study proposes a linguistically-grounded model for examining moral legitimation in the sentencing phase of capital trials. Drawing upon state lawyers’ closing speech in six capital trials (Indiana, USA), the study identifies key strategies the State uses to justify death and explores their ideological basis. The quantitative findings indicate that moral legitimation is integral to this genre, and, qualitatively speaking, the State relies to a great extent on strategies such as naming labels, assignment of agency, and evaluation, respectively. This is followed by emotion-based reasoning and analogy. It is argued that the reliance on moral legitimation treats death as a natural corollary of such moral characterizations and precludes the discussion of the life-sentence option.
查看原文
分享 分享
微信好友 朋友圈 QQ好友 复制链接
本刊更多论文
死刑审判的道德正当性:控方结案总结案例
基于社会实践的合法性是通过话语获得的假设,本研究提出了一个基于语言的模型来检验死刑审判量刑阶段的道德合法性。根据州律师在6起死刑审判中的结案陈词(美国印第安纳州),该研究确定了州用来证明死刑正当性的主要策略,并探讨了这些策略的意识形态基础。定量调查结果表明,道德正当性是这一类型的组成部分,从质量上讲,国家在很大程度上依赖于诸如命名标签、分配机构和评价等策略。其次是基于情感的推理和类比。有人认为,对道德正当性的依赖将死亡视为这种道德特征的自然必然结果,并排除了对终身监禁选择的讨论。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 去求助
来源期刊
Text & Talk
Text & Talk Multiple-
CiteScore
1.70
自引率
16.70%
发文量
70
期刊介绍: Text & Talk (founded as TEXT in 1981) is an internationally recognized forum for interdisciplinary research in language, discourse, and communication studies, focusing, among other things, on the situational and historical nature of text/talk production; the cognitive and sociocultural processes of language practice/action; and participant-based structures of meaning negotiation and multimodal alignment. Text & Talk encourages critical debates on these and other relevant issues, spanning not only the theoretical and methodological dimensions of discourse but also their practical and socially relevant outcomes.
期刊最新文献
The effects of modal value and imperative mood on self-predicted compliance to health guidance: the case of COVID-19 “The results might not fully represent…”: Negation in the limitations sections of doctoral theses by Chinese and American students Recurrent gestures and embodied stance-taking in courtroom opening statements Turning talk into text: the representation of contemporary urban vernaculars in Swedish fiction Critical comments in the disciplines: a comparative look at peer review reports in applied linguistics and engineering
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
现在去查看 取消
×
提示
确定
0
微信
客服QQ
Book学术公众号 扫码关注我们
反馈
×
意见反馈
请填写您的意见或建议
请填写您的手机或邮箱
已复制链接
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
×
扫码分享
扫码分享
Book学术官方微信
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术
文献互助 智能选刊 最新文献 互助须知 联系我们:info@booksci.cn
Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。
Copyright © 2023 Book学术 All rights reserved.
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号 京ICP备2023020795号-1