Chapter 5 Navigating the linguistic complexity of cross-examination: The role of the witness intermediary for an autistic defendant
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Rukiya Stein
Abstract
Autistic individuals often face significant challenges in the criminal justice process due to the linguistic complexity of cross-examination. These difficulties can hinder their ability to comprehend and respond accurately to questions, potentially impacting the fairness and outcome of the trial. Witness intermediaries are important in bridging the gap between lawyer questioning and ensuring effective communication that results in clear testimony from vulnerable adults. This chapter examines the critical role of a witness intermediary in facilitating communication for an autistic defendant during cross-examination. Through analysis of an excerpt of the trial transcript, the chapter explores the intricate dynamics of linguistic complexity during cross-examination, the challenges the defendant faced with the questioning, and the role of the intermediary in ensuring he could provide complete and coherent evidence. The discussion underscores the crucial role of intermediaries in the judicial process and highlights the necessity for legal practitioners to modify the traditional cross-examination methods to ensure procedural fairness. This approach ultimately advocates for a more inclusive legal system.
Abstract
Autistic individuals often face significant challenges in the criminal justice process due to the linguistic complexity of cross-examination. These difficulties can hinder their ability to comprehend and respond accurately to questions, potentially impacting the fairness and outcome of the trial. Witness intermediaries are important in bridging the gap between lawyer questioning and ensuring effective communication that results in clear testimony from vulnerable adults. This chapter examines the critical role of a witness intermediary in facilitating communication for an autistic defendant during cross-examination. Through analysis of an excerpt of the trial transcript, the chapter explores the intricate dynamics of linguistic complexity during cross-examination, the challenges the defendant faced with the questioning, and the role of the intermediary in ensuring he could provide complete and coherent evidence. The discussion underscores the crucial role of intermediaries in the judicial process and highlights the necessity for legal practitioners to modify the traditional cross-examination methods to ensure procedural fairness. This approach ultimately advocates for a more inclusive legal system.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments VII
- Contents IX
- Foreword XIII
- Introduction: More than (just) words 1
-
Part I: (Just) words
-
Legal perspectives
- Chapter 1 Metalanguage in the penalty phase of a capital trial: A study of two monologic genres 27
- Chapter 2 Political discrimination or reasonable conduct? Motive-implicative discourse moves in a civil trial’s closing arguments 49
- Chapter 3 Legal-lay interaction and recontextualization in Swedish criminal proceedings 73
-
Non-legal perspectives
- Chapter 4 . . .and I’m telling you honestly, I don’t measure: Emotive reframing and evasiveness in expert testimony 99
- Chapter 5 Navigating the linguistic complexity of cross-examination: The role of the witness intermediary for an autistic defendant 127
- Chapter 6 Between semantics and pragmatics: Witnesses’ credibility and the linguistic expression of the source of information in Italian criminal trials 149
- Chapter 7 Identity construction in complainants’ narratives in the investigative public hearings on the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory administration 185
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Part II: More than (just) words
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Speech and gesture
- Chapter 8 I wanna be somebody: Enacted reported thought in an actual jury deliberation 213
- Chapter 9 Multimodal discursive authority of the judge: Analyzing the judge’s interactions with courtroom participants in Chinese criminal trials 231
-
Image and architecture
- Chapter 10 Allegories of justice in contemporary France: In search of a new paradigm 267
- Chapter 11 Criminal law, court architecture, and the space of justice: Stakeholder perceptions of ‘special’ courts used in child sexual abuse trials in India 293
- Index 319
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments VII
- Contents IX
- Foreword XIII
- Introduction: More than (just) words 1
-
Part I: (Just) words
-
Legal perspectives
- Chapter 1 Metalanguage in the penalty phase of a capital trial: A study of two monologic genres 27
- Chapter 2 Political discrimination or reasonable conduct? Motive-implicative discourse moves in a civil trial’s closing arguments 49
- Chapter 3 Legal-lay interaction and recontextualization in Swedish criminal proceedings 73
-
Non-legal perspectives
- Chapter 4 . . .and I’m telling you honestly, I don’t measure: Emotive reframing and evasiveness in expert testimony 99
- Chapter 5 Navigating the linguistic complexity of cross-examination: The role of the witness intermediary for an autistic defendant 127
- Chapter 6 Between semantics and pragmatics: Witnesses’ credibility and the linguistic expression of the source of information in Italian criminal trials 149
- Chapter 7 Identity construction in complainants’ narratives in the investigative public hearings on the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory administration 185
-
Part II: More than (just) words
-
Speech and gesture
- Chapter 8 I wanna be somebody: Enacted reported thought in an actual jury deliberation 213
- Chapter 9 Multimodal discursive authority of the judge: Analyzing the judge’s interactions with courtroom participants in Chinese criminal trials 231
-
Image and architecture
- Chapter 10 Allegories of justice in contemporary France: In search of a new paradigm 267
- Chapter 11 Criminal law, court architecture, and the space of justice: Stakeholder perceptions of ‘special’ courts used in child sexual abuse trials in India 293
- Index 319
