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Portrait of a Courtroom - Social and Ecological Impressions of the Adversary Process

NCJ Number
85584
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 9 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1982) Pages: 286-302
Author(s)
W T Austin
Date Published
1982
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This research focuses on status and territory within a North Carolina Superior Court.
Abstract
An effort is made to determine which court members are the most dominant and how such dominance is associated with spatial and organizational characteristics of the courtroom. A critique is given of the adversary relationship between the prosecution and the defense, and several inequities in this relationship are outlined. Territorially, the structure of the courtroom is found to be weighted in favor of the prosecution. This partial ethnography reveals several potential fallacies in the courtroom physical and organizational structure and suggests areas for future research. (Publisher abstract)

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