Polish vs. American Courtroom Discourse This page intentionally left blank Polish vs. American Courtroom Discourse Inquisitorial and Adversarial Procedures of Witness Examination in Criminal Trials Grażyna Anna Bednarek © Grażyna Anna Bednarek 2014 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-41424-3 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-49018-9 ISBN 978-1-137-41425-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137414250 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bednarek, Grazyna Anna, 1960– author. Polish vs. American courtroom discourse: inquisitorial and adversarial procedures of witness examination in criminal trials / Grazyna Anna Bednarek, University of Economy in Bydgoszcz, Poland. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: “Polish vs. American Courtroom Discourse investigates different methods of witness examination in criminal trials under two disparate legal systems: Civil Law and Common Law. Its major objective is to identify, illustrate and explain the cross-cultural similarities and disparities between the inquisitorial and adversarial procedures of witness examination in criminal trials. The book argues that these are two culturally distinct ways of seeking the truth and pursuing justice. The author investigates verbal interaction during penal cases and examines by what means and to what effect social (institutional), historical and cultural context shapes the use of language in court. Polish vs. American Courtroom Discourse seeks to present the language used in courtroom interaction by the representatives of the legal professions, including the judge, attorney for prosecution and defense as a distinctive example of linguistic genre, a unique phenomenon which is culturally varied and socially conditioned. This book makes a significant contribution both to the fields of discourse analysis and socio-legal studies and will be of great interest to those researching language and the law, as well as language and linguistics more generally.” – Provided by publisher. 1. Examination of witnesses – United States. 2. Examination of witnesses – Poland. 3. Discourse analysis. 4. Law – Language. I. Title. II. Title: Polish versus American courtroom discourse. K5483.B43 2014 345.4389075—dc23 2014019964 No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered the same social reality. The worlds in which different socie- ties live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached . Sapir ([1929] 1949: 162) This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xii List of Abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 1 Explorations of Courtroom Discourse 2 Introduction 2 1.1 M ajor objective of the book and rationale for research into courtroom discourse 2 1.2 A concise overview of the research dedicated to courtroom discourse and what distinguishes the present study from the prior contributions 5 1.3 Interdisciplinarity of the research and key concepts 9 1.4 T he general perspective of the study, the origin of the data and justification for the methodology applied in the current research 13 Conclusions 21 2 American Courtroom Discourse 23 Introduction 23 2.1 T he ethnography of communication approach to American courtroom discourse 23 2.1.1 The setting of the O.J. Simpson trial 23 2.1.1.1 T he origins, historical development and nature of the United States legal system 23 2.1.1.2 The United States court system 27 2.1.1.3 The venue of the O.J. Simpson trial 29 2.1.2 Participants in the O.J. Simpson trial 2 9 2.1.2.1 Judge 29 2.1.2.2 Attorneys for the prosecution 3 0 2.1.2.3 Attorneys for the defense 3 2 2.1.2.4 The jury 35 2.1.2.5 Victims 37 2.1.2.6 Defendant 3 7 vii viii Contents 2.1.2.7 Witnesses 38 2.1.3 Ends 38 2.1.4 Act sequence 3 8 2.1.5 Key 39 2.1.6 Instrumentalities 3 9 2.1.7 Norms of interaction 4 0 2.1.8 Genres 4 1 2.2 T he conversation analysis approach to American courtroom discourse 42 2.2.1 Q ualitative analysis of question-and-answer adjacency pairs in reconstruction of the story in the light of the testimony of prosecution witnesses 42 2.2.1.1 T he testimony of Ron Shipp, friend of O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson 44 2.2.2 Q ualitative analysis of question-and-answer adjacency pairs in reconstruction of the story in the light of the testimony of defense witnesses 4 7 2.2.2.1 The testimony of Dr Robert Huizenga, O.J. Simpson’s doctor 4 7 2.2.3 Courtroom interaction and the social roles of the participants in the O.J. Simpson trial under the American common law legal system 5 2 2.2.4 Quantitative analysis of various types of questions and their tactical employment to elicit testimony in the O.J. Simpson trial 6 6 2.3 Pragmatic aspects of American courtroom discourse 7 5 2.3.1 G rice’s co-operative principle in the O.J. Simpson criminal trial: the degree of observance and flouting 75 2.3.2 A ssorted speech acts in the O.J. Simpson criminal trial 8 3 Conclusions 92 3 P olish Courtroom Discourse 94 Introduction 94 3.1 T he ethnography of communication approach to Polish courtroom discourse 94 3.1.1 Setting 94 3.1.1.1 T he origins, historical development and nature of Poland’s legal system 94 3.1.1.2 Poland’s court system 102 3.1.1.3 The venue of the Polish criminal trial 107 Contents ix 3.1.2 Participants 107 3.1.2.1 Judge 107 3.1.2.2 Attorney for the prosecution 110 3.1.2.3 Attorney for the defense 114 3.1.2.4 Lay assessors 116 3.1.2.5 Victims 1–3 117 3.1.2.6 Defendant 117 3.1.2.7 Witnesses 1–10 118 3.1.3 Ends 119 3.1.4 Act sequence 120 3.1.5 Key 121 3.1.6 Instrumentalities 121 3.1.7 Norms of interaction 1 22 3.1.8 Genres 1 28 3.2 T he conversation analysis approach to Polish courtroom discourse 129 3.2.1 S tructural organization of the Polish criminal trial and courtroom interaction with the social roles of the participants under the civil law legal system in Poland 1 29 3.2.2 T he system of turn-taking in Polish courtroom discourse of criminal trials 1 38 3.2.3 Q ualitative analysis of question-and-answer adjacency pairs in reconstruction of objective reality in the Polish criminal trial in the light of the examination of selected witnesses 1 40 3.2.3.1 The explanations of the defendant 1 40 3.2.3.2 The testimony of witness 1 1 43 3.2.4 Q uantitative analysis of questions and answers in the Polish criminal trial 1 46 3.3 Pragmatic aspects of Polish courtroom discourse 1 51 3.3.1 Grice’s co-operative principle in the Polish criminal trial: the degree of observance and flouting 1 51 3.3.2 Assorted speech acts in the Polish criminal trial 1 58 Conclusions 164 4 Polish vs. American Courtroom Discourse: The Findings of the Research 165 Introduction 165 4.1 R estatement of the major objectives of the present study and review of the methodology employed to examine Polish and American courtroom discourse 165