Professional Emotions in Court by Stina Bergman Blix Åsa Wettergren

Author:Stina Bergman Blix, Åsa Wettergren [Stina Bergman Blix, Åsa Wettergren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367821128
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2019-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

When Jakob understands the victim to be right in his argument and it becomes obvious to him that the victim has already fought a lot in vain with his insurance company, he becomes more engaged. Besides representing the state, prosecutors in Sweden also have a far-reaching obligation to assist the victim during the preliminary investigation. As Jakob explained: “Since the police did not ask these questions, I’ve got to do that. […] So as prosecutors we have to step in and, well, we help victims, and naturally we grow very close”. Accordingly, in order to perform objectivity, Jakob at some points needs to demonstrate distance, while at others he needs to become empathically involved. As we can see from the above, the shift from disinterested distance to engaged proximity and back can be swift and requires from the prosecutor a certain level of emotional astuteness.

Jakob’s involvement with the victim results in a changed damage claim. After their agreement on the matter, Jakob glances around for the defence lawyer. They have had hearings together earlier that same day, and they like to chat a little in between trials. The defence lawyer, who stands a bit further away, talking with his own client, notices Jakob and comes over. Jakob greets him and tells about the issue with the insurance company, giving him a heads up about the adjustment to the damage claims. Thereafter the two both complain a little about the trial’s being late: “It’s disrespectful to let people wait like this”.

For prosecutors and defence lawyers to chit-chat with each other during grey trials is common, offering a way for them to exchange neutral information about the case and often also, if they know each other from before, talk about this and that. The older, more experienced legal actors see these professional interactions outside the courtroom as the ‘fun’ part of grey trials, with the hearings themselves tending to be routine. The younger professionals described their collegial interactions more in terms of an emotion management strategy: “If you have a relationship – not one between best friends, but a work relationship – then we can take that with us when we go into the courtroom. It doesn’t get personal; we don’t get the trench warfare” (August, prosecutor, 35+). This experience was shared by defence lawyers:

We meet in court a lot, us defence lawyers and prosecutors, so it would be dull if we wouldn’t chitchat a little every now and then. I find it quite nice. But then again, it depends on who your client is. […] If you represent someone who’s traumatized, then you have to focus on taking care of that person. Or someone who is very angry with the prosecutor: then you need to create a bit of distance, you need to be sensitive to that. But I think that many of our clients understand that we do have this collegiality.

(Selma, defence lawyer, 40+)

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