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Maybe he didn’t intend to rape her: a critical discourse analysis of the district courts conceptualization of the defendant in rape verdicts.

Fischer, Louise LU (2017) RÄSM02 20171
Department of Sociology of Law
Abstract
Previous research show, people interpret others through their pre-understanding
and stereotypical beliefs. Rape crimes are periodically debated in the Swedish
media. The debates often elucidate laws incapability to manage the complexity of
rape, focusing on the women as the injured party. The purpose of this study is to
highlight the Swedish district court’s conceptualization of the defendant in rape
verdicts. This study illuminates if and how the district court argue about the
characteristics of the defendant, and if there are any differences in the district
court’s conceptualization in regards of the defendant’s background and social
position. Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis is used in order to examine the
rape... (More)
Previous research show, people interpret others through their pre-understanding
and stereotypical beliefs. Rape crimes are periodically debated in the Swedish
media. The debates often elucidate laws incapability to manage the complexity of
rape, focusing on the women as the injured party. The purpose of this study is to
highlight the Swedish district court’s conceptualization of the defendant in rape
verdicts. This study illuminates if and how the district court argue about the
characteristics of the defendant, and if there are any differences in the district
court’s conceptualization in regards of the defendant’s background and social
position. Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis is used in order to examine the
rape verdicts. The identified discourses of the 46 analysed rape verdicts, settled by
the district court of Malmö and the district court of Helsingborg, have been
analysed through Bourdieu’s concepts of social class, symbolic violence and
symbolic capital. Furthermore, the content of the discourses has been highlighted
through theories of masculine domination and feminist legal theory. Foucault
argues, discourses produced by institutions maintain inequalities in society, in line
with this, Bourdieu claim that the state exercise symbolic violence. In the light of
this, discourses, produced and reproduced by the district courts, have the power to
uphold inequalities in society. The results of this study indicate that the district
courts reproduce masculine domination and male identities. The district courts
assessments are influenced by stereotypical beliefs of both male and female
behaviour. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Fischer, Louise LU
supervisor
organization
course
RÄSM02 20171
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
defendant, discourses, district court, masculinity, rape, rapist
language
English
id
8911415
date added to LUP
2017-06-15 11:34:14
date last changed
2017-06-15 11:34:14
@misc{8911415,
  abstract     = {{Previous research show, people interpret others through their pre-understanding
and stereotypical beliefs. Rape crimes are periodically debated in the Swedish
media. The debates often elucidate laws incapability to manage the complexity of
rape, focusing on the women as the injured party. The purpose of this study is to
highlight the Swedish district court’s conceptualization of the defendant in rape
verdicts. This study illuminates if and how the district court argue about the
characteristics of the defendant, and if there are any differences in the district
court’s conceptualization in regards of the defendant’s background and social
position. Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis is used in order to examine the
rape verdicts. The identified discourses of the 46 analysed rape verdicts, settled by
the district court of Malmö and the district court of Helsingborg, have been
analysed through Bourdieu’s concepts of social class, symbolic violence and
symbolic capital. Furthermore, the content of the discourses has been highlighted
through theories of masculine domination and feminist legal theory. Foucault
argues, discourses produced by institutions maintain inequalities in society, in line
with this, Bourdieu claim that the state exercise symbolic violence. In the light of
this, discourses, produced and reproduced by the district courts, have the power to
uphold inequalities in society. The results of this study indicate that the district
courts reproduce masculine domination and male identities. The district courts
assessments are influenced by stereotypical beliefs of both male and female
behaviour.}},
  author       = {{Fischer, Louise}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Maybe he didn’t intend to rape her: a critical discourse analysis of the district courts conceptualization of the defendant in rape verdicts.}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}