Judicial Questions and Misdemeanor Arraignments: Exploring Waivers of the Right to Counsel

• In Event: Data in Indigent Defense: Non-representation and Waiver of Counsel

Abstract

Arraignment is a critical stage in the criminal legal system, and often, it’s the first and only interaction for misdemeanor defendants. During these hearings, judges are expected to inform defendants of their charges and constitutional rights, so that they can make knowing and voluntary decisions, including the waiver of counsel and pleading guilty. The interactions are linguistically complicated involving intertextual references, complex legal rights, and asymmetrical power and knowledge imbalances, and prior research, in other legal contexts, has shown that judges and lawyers’ questions are powerful tools in framing intentions and controlling responses. Employing conversation analysis and the coercive-questions typology, this presentation reports the analytical findings from twenty-six judge-misdemeanor defendant exchanges and identifies (1) what information was communicated to defendants, (2) how that information was communicated, and (3) the types of questions employed in rights-waiver hearings.

Authors

• Alisa Smith, University of Central Florida

• Amanda Izes, PhD Student

• Sarah Stice, Unaffiliated