People practicing and studying law often ignore the role emotions play in court. The idea is that feelings disturb the rationality that is the judicial discipline’s foundation. Neglecting emotions will, if nothing else, make the legal system appear rational and unbiased.
However, trying to hide the emotional aspect of criminal trials does not make it go away. “My starting point is that emotions abound in all criminal trials …,” writes Lisa Flower, who specializes in the sociology of emotions. She recently published the book Interactional Justice: The Role of Emotions in the Performance of Loyalty, in which she explores the emotional labour of defence lawyers.
A central aspect of the book covers the lawyer’s emotional management in the courtroom. Even when a suspected perpetrator claims innocence in the face of incontrovertible evidence, the lawyer is expected to represent their client’s position, and appear unfazed when the client unexpectedly adds fuel to the fire – as described by Flower in the opening paragraphs.
“The prosecutor asks the defendant how he came to be in possession of the stolen items, and the defendant claims that he bumped into an acquaintance who gave them to him. When asked to describe the acquaintance, the defendant claims he does not remember what he looked like or what he was wearing. When asked what the acquaintance is called, the defendant thinks a while and says, 'Hmmmm, Erving.' Coincidentally, this also happens to be the (very unusual) name of the defence lawyer. The prosecutor points out to the accused that in his police statement he stated that the acquaintance he bumped into was called Danny Diamond (this is a fictitious name but the name used in court was equally as fantastic), which the arresting police officer has also testified to. When asked why he was wearing plastic gloves at the time of his arrest, he replies that it was because he thought that the items could possibly be stolen and he didn’t want to get his fingerprints on them therefore “Erving” gave him his plastic gloves along with the items.
Throughout all of this, the defence lawyer stares, almost without blinking, at the prosecutor. His facial features do not move: no raised eyebrows, no shake of the head. He is still: glasses in hand, body turned fully towards the prosecutor, not looking at his client.”