Navigating between Narrations: Voices That Construct and Undermine the Credibility of the Legal System

The article argues that judicial narratives, produced in & out of the courtroom in order to represent real-world events, are biased toward presenting the judicial process as being objective, impartial, & trustworthy, while censoring narratives that oppose this bias. Supporting data is provided by interviews with professionals in the legal field as well as two former prisoners & their family members. The discussion views the justice system as a form of social practice that does not differ from other social practices, in the sense that the justice system is nothing more than a social construction. This approach has allowed the researchers to demystify the judicial world by locating it within the human sphere, thus stripping the justice system of the quasi-divine character that has been conferred upon it by society. References. R. Young