Call for chapters: Conversations in Criminal Justice

We are soliciting manuscripts for an edited book on Conversations in criminal justice: Insights from discursive psychology and ethnomethodological conversation analysis to be proposed as part of a collection for ‘Palgrave Studies in Discursive Psychology’ edited by Cristian Tileagă, Elizabeth Stokoe, and Sally Wiggins Young. 

Authentic, recorded interactions in criminal justice settings were subject to sustained and detailed analysis in some of the earliest examples of conversation analysis (CA), ethnomethodology (EM) and discursive psychology (DP). This fine-grained approach revealed the interactional character unique to different criminal justice settings, for example, in the work of ​Atkinson & Drew (1979)​ on restrictive turn-taking in courtrooms. Studies also examined interactional practices used in the service of criminal justice activities. In the context of police interviews, this includes descriptions of mechanisms by which speakers assess moral character ​(Sacks, 1972)​ and allocate blame and motive ​(Watson, 1983; Wowk, 1984)​. Since then, a steadily growing set of studies has generated insights into interactions in police settings, courtrooms, and other wide-ranging criminal justice contexts, with increasingly varied analytic foci, and more recently, a diversity of languages and geographical locations.  

Our edited book will present new interactional insights into the conversations that take place and comprise criminal justice systems. It aims to showcase the unique potency and empirical rigour of EMCADP approaches within this context. Specifically, each chapter will provide insights into the mechanics of legal interactions and matters central to legal processes such as culpability, agency, vulnerability, and identity and how they manifest as practical concerns for participants. This volume will expound upon how such matters are built into interaction and fitted to ongoing practices across settings that include emergency calls, investigative police interviews, courtroom interactions, youth justice settings and forensic mental health contexts. The anticipated audience is both academic and professional. We will invite authors to include a reflection on the implications of their research for practitioners in their conclusions. 

Should you be interested in contributing a chapter drawing upon discursive psychology (DP) and/or ethnomethodological conversation analysis (CA) in criminal justice settings, please send a 500-word abstract by 7th July 2024 to e.richardson@lboro.ac.uk.

We particularly welcome contributions from scholars working in contexts outside of the USA/Western Europe, and/or studies in prison/incarceration and probation settings or psychological interventions. 

Timeline: 

7th July 2024 Abstracts due 

12 July 2024 Decisions communicated 

30 Nov 2024 Final manuscripts due (around 7,000 words)   

Apr-Jun 2025 Book published 

Decisions about inclusion will be taken in collaboration with the series editors. The book will be internationally available through the Springer Link website, available in hard and soft cover and as an e-book.   

We look forward to hearing from you. 

Best wishes, 

Volume editors Emma Richardson & Laura Jenkins 

References 

Atkinson, J. M., & Drew, P. (1979). Order in the Court. Springer. 

Sacks, H. (1972). Notes on Police Assessment of Moral Character (D. Sudnow, Ed.). Free Press. 

Watson, D. R. (1983). The presentation of a victim and motive in discourse: The case of police interrogations and interviews. Victimology, 8(1–2), 31–52. 

Wowk, M. T. (1984). Blame allocation, sex and gender in a murder interrogation. Women’s Studies International Forum, 7(1), 75–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-5395(84)90087-6