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"Vi kan inte göra hipp som happ" : Åklagares formuleringar av en objektiv ordning

Jacobsson, Katarina LU (2006) In Sociologisk Forskning 43(2). p.31-61
Abstract
The claim that politics, economics, and personal and social values are relevant in judicial decision making is not new. However, a shared view among legal practitioners tends to be that most cases are decided in an objective fashion. Drawing on material from two different studies (one on battered women and one on bribery), this paper investigates how prosecutors rely on and actively uphold an institutional discourse portraying the law and legal practice as impartial and fair. The material consists of interviews with Swedish prosecutors. The analysis demonstrates how prosecutors in talk construct ’the law’ as a structure of it’s own, describing the legal system as independently processing it’s cases in a rather machinelike fashion... (More)
The claim that politics, economics, and personal and social values are relevant in judicial decision making is not new. However, a shared view among legal practitioners tends to be that most cases are decided in an objective fashion. Drawing on material from two different studies (one on battered women and one on bribery), this paper investigates how prosecutors rely on and actively uphold an institutional discourse portraying the law and legal practice as impartial and fair. The material consists of interviews with Swedish prosecutors. The analysis demonstrates how prosecutors in talk construct ’the law’ as a structure of it’s own, describing the legal system as independently processing it’s cases in a rather machinelike fashion regardless of the values, beliefs and thoughts of the individual prosecutor. To maintain this idea prosecutors stress professionalism and objectivity. This may also be achieved in a more subtle way, for example by using a vocabulary with “professional-like” enhancing words (judgment, task, obligation etc.), resisting words with the least connection to subjective opinions. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Sociologisk Forskning
volume
43
issue
2
pages
31 - 61
publisher
Sveriges Sociologförbund
external identifiers
  • scopus:33746058258
ISSN
0038-0342
DOI
10.37062/sf.43.19300
language
Swedish
LU publication?
yes
id
73fabe79-8d43-4633-b84f-53a83f3e23ae (old id 161604)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 15:21:50
date last changed
2022-05-04 10:41:25
@article{73fabe79-8d43-4633-b84f-53a83f3e23ae,
  abstract     = {{The claim that politics, economics, and personal and social values are relevant in judicial decision making is not new. However, a shared view among legal practitioners tends to be that most cases are decided in an objective fashion. Drawing on material from two different studies (one on battered women and one on bribery), this paper investigates how prosecutors rely on and actively uphold an institutional discourse portraying the law and legal practice as impartial and fair. The material consists of interviews with Swedish prosecutors. The analysis demonstrates how prosecutors in talk construct ’the law’ as a structure of it’s own, describing the legal system as independently processing it’s cases in a rather machinelike fashion regardless of the values, beliefs and thoughts of the individual prosecutor. To maintain this idea prosecutors stress professionalism and objectivity. This may also be achieved in a more subtle way, for example by using a vocabulary with “professional-like” enhancing words (judgment, task, obligation etc.), resisting words with the least connection to subjective opinions.}},
  author       = {{Jacobsson, Katarina}},
  issn         = {{0038-0342}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{31--61}},
  publisher    = {{Sveriges Sociologförbund}},
  series       = {{Sociologisk Forskning}},
  title        = {{"Vi kan inte göra hipp som happ" : Åklagares formuleringar av en objektiv ordning}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.37062/sf.43.19300}},
  doi          = {{10.37062/sf.43.19300}},
  volume       = {{43}},
  year         = {{2006}},
}