The Stories We (Re)Tell: How Judges Recount Defendant Narratives to Adjudicate Their Remorse

• In Event: Qualitative Research on Psychology and Decision-making in Courts

Abstract

In the criminal-legal system, judges receive information about a defendant which is used to evaluate mitigating and aggravating factors in sentencing decisions. More informally, these background factors, and ultimately, the defendant’s story, have to be assessed and judged by the judges themselves. Understanding how judges receive a defendant’s narrative and how a defendant’s story is further operationalized to evaluate their remorse remains elusive to the field of legal decision-making and sentencing. Rooted in the retelling of defendant narratives, this research benefits from 60 qualitative interviews with U.S. State judges who elicited their personal experiences and interactions with defendants while recounting their remorse. Focusing on judges’ perceptions of a defendant’s narrative and their own retelling of such events, this work highlights how judges describe, evaluate, and adjudicate a defendant’s remorse through information given by the court and the defendants themselves.

Authors

• Emily Greberman, Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice

• Colleen Berryessa, Rutgers University