On Judgment

Managing Emotions in Trials of Crimes Against Humanity in Argentina

Bibliographic Data

ID12283333
AuthorsNoa Vaisman (0000-0002-2484-6436, Aarhus University, corresponding author), Leticia Barrera (0000-0002-7001-9378, CONICET-IDAES, UNSAM, Argentina, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume29
Issue6
Pages812-834
Publication date2020-01-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Legal Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0964-6639 • E-ISSN: 1461-7390
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0964663919900974
OpenAlexW3003346247
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited36

For over a decade, judicial accountability of mass human rights violations committed during the last civil-military dictatorship in Argentina (1976–1983) has been carried out in federal courts by regular judges, following the rules of the National Code of Criminal Procedure. Research on these trials has focused mainly on the victims and the accused. This article opens a different path by exploring the affective experiences of the judges presiding over and leading the trials. Based on interviews with 18 federal court judges and some participant observation, in this article we present a descriptive exploration of the judges’ experiences and sensemaking processes. We examine the complex interaction between the professional requirement to separate emotions from judgment and the emotional toll that these trials produce in the personal and professional lives of the judges. We end with short reflections on these crimes against humanity trials in the post-Transitional Justice context

Crimes against humanity · Criminology · Environmental ethics · Humanity · Political science · Sociology · War crime · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology