Fragmented Narratives and Multiple Tellers

Witness and Defendant Accounts in Trials

Bibliographic Data

ID5965653
AuthorsSandra Harris (Nottingham Trent University, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume3
Issue1
Pages53-74
Publication date2001-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiscourse Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-4456 • E-ISSN: 1461-7080
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1461445601003001003
OpenAlexW2148847649
LanguageEN
Citations received27
References cited18

This article examines the nature and structure of witness and defendant narrative accounts in the evidential portions of courtroom trials, using the O.J. Simpson (1996), Oklahoma Bombers (1997) and Louise Woodward (1998) trials as a database. The article proposes a means of distinguishing narrative from non-narrative accounts, using Labov's definition of the `minimal narrative' as a starting point, and puts forward a modified model of narrative structure. A range of narrative structures are explored, and the model is used to analyse a series of representative example narratives taken from the trial data. Different types of narrative fragmentation produced by multiple tellers of the same narrative are also examined, along with the frequent disjunction between `tellers' and `knowers'. Lastly, the article explores the relationship between narrative structures and narrative fragmentation and the discourse strategies used by lawyers in direct and cross-examination

Art · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Narrative criticism · Narrative history · Narrative inquiry · Narrative network · Narrative structure · Narratology · Sociology · Witness · Crime Patterns and Interventions · History · Law in Society and Culture · Legal Education and Practice Innovations · Philosophy · Psychology

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