Synopses & Reviews
The Camorra trials in Naples involved more than a thousand people charged with belonging to a criminal organization, the Nuova Camorra Organizzata. After some key witnesses turned against their former associates and collaborated with the Justice Department, more than 800 people were convicted, but in the appeal their credibility was destroyed and the majority were acquitted. To investigate this dramatic reversal of the defendants' convictions, Jacquemet combines analysis of talk and power technologies with a reflection on truth and credibility as communicative representations.
Synopsis
This study analyses courtroom communicative practices in the trials of an Italian criminal organisation.
Synopsis
The Camorra trials in Naples involved more than a thousand people charged with belonging to a criminal organization, the Nuova Camorra Organizzata. After some key witnesses turned against their former associates and collaborated with the Justice Department, more than 800 people were convicted, but in the appeal their credibility was destroyed and the majority were acquitted. To investigate this dramatic reversal of the defendants' convictions, Jacquemet combines analysis of talk and power technologies with a reflection on truth and credibility as communicative representations.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [304]-319) and indexes.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: men of honor, men of truth; Part I. Constructing a criminal world: 2. For a history of the present: how belonging to a community became a crime; 3. The simulacra of the pentiti; Part II. Constructing a convincing world: 4. On credibility (the pentito and the judge); 5. On knowledge (pentiti's narrative strategies); Part III. Constructing a reliable world: 6. On indirectness (pentito v. defense lawyer); 7. On accountability (pentito v. judge); Part IV. Constructing an antagonistic world: 8. On respect (pentito v. defendant); 9. On truth (pentito v. pentito) ; Conclusions: 10. Justice, discourse, and society.