Constructing Whiteness: Identity and Imagery in the Legal Battle of State of Florida v. Casey Anthony

• In Event: Roundtable: Courts and Convictions

Abstract

I use the articulations of whiteness narrated by the prosecution and defence as the focal point from which to begin my analysis, by looking at how both victim and perpetrator statuses were ascribed to (the body of) Casey Anthony. Considering how different narrations intersect with each other and the social discourses that shape our understanding of those narratives, I look at the constructions of Casey Anthony along multiple dimensions of race and gender to examine the role of privilege in fostering the jury’s final verdict. In particular, I use the Casey Anthony case to examine how the defendant was framed through discourses of whiteness and femaleness. These discourses were themselves subject to different interpretations and functions by the prosecution and defence in the two prominent texts describing the case of State of Florida v. Casey Anthony: Presumed Guilty – Casey Anthony: The Inside Story by Jose Baez and Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony by Jeff Ashton. Through close readings of these texts, I assess how one narrative upholds an assumed and hegemonic social norm concerning the un-criminalised status of white womanhood, while the other narrative serves to destabilise or reposition that norm by “trashing” Casey Anthony’s white, feminine identity.

Author

• Faraasa Lawrence, Saint Mary's University