Law and the Language of Identity

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Law and the Language of Identity: Discourse in the William Kennedy Smith Rape Trial

Nevertheless, Mateosian told UPI that -- in his opinion -- the alleged victim probably told the truth. We picked older, conservative female jurors. Young men, when they hear her crying, fall for it. Contrary to popular belief, Metoesian wrote, Florida vs. Smith was not necessarily a one-sided case pitting the wealthy and powerful Kennedy clan against the inadequate resources of the state and the alleged victim.

The alleged victim's wealthy stepfather hired the most prominent law firm in West Palm Beach to represent her interest in the case and assist the prosecutor in any way it could. In this "classic case of he-said, she-said," Matoesian gave the following example of Black's effective use of language. Matoesian said that when Black cross-examined the alleged victim on apparent inconsistencies in her testimony regarding intimate physical details of the sexual encounter, "she starts crying.

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It's very difficult for him to question her. Every time he starts talking about the details Let me play the tape.

Why is she crying on the stand? She wasn't crying when she gave the statement to the police. And, of course, she had given five statements to the police. On some of those, she was crying. He only picked the ones where she wasn't crying. Rape shield laws prohibit attorneys from making any statements about the woman's sexual history, Matoesian said, and Black was able to get around those laws "by using ordinary language" that according to the professor's book "contingently constructs, rather than merely reflects," issues of consent, force and sexual history "within the patriarchal logic of sexual rationality," which he calls "a linguistic ideology for generating inconsistency.

Law and the Language of Identity: Discourse in the William Kennedy Smith Rape Trial

This apparently contrasts with what the professor terms the female model of sexuality: But did the defense attorney "generate" inconsistency or reveal it? Matoesian said Black circumvented the rape shield law by establishing a chain of events for the night in question.

You were with him exclusively. There was some kissing in the parking lot at three o'clock in the morning.

Law and the Language of Identity Discourse in the William Kennedy Smith Rape Trial

You were interested in him, weren't you? Matoesian said that even though the alleged victim maintained, 'Those were innocent little pecks,' Black insinuated that only a sexually experienced woman would engage in such behavior.

Living for Christ in the End Times.
Did jurors or 'poetry' acquit the accused?.
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He draws on the fields of conversation analysis, ethnomethodology, linguistic anthropology and social theory to show how language practices shape--and are shaped by--culture and the law, particularly in the social construction of rape as a legal fact. This analysis examines linguistic strategies from both defense and prosecutorial viewpoints, and how they relate to issues of gender, sexual identity, and power. Notes on Transcription Introduction 1. Rhythms of Domination and the Gender of Inconsistency 3.

Intertextuality, Reported Speech, and Affect 5.

GREGORY M. MATOESIAN

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server Configure custom proxy use this if your affiliation does not provide a proxy. But in the end, patriarchy could have had less to do with Smith's acquittal than matriarchy. Discourse in the William by Gregory M. Ningombam Bupenda Meitei - manuscript. Imprint Oxford ; New York: It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Academic Skip to main content.

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