Law & Humanities Blog |
| Posted: 07 Jan 2013 08:49 AM PST Lisa Kern Griffin, Duke University School of Law, has published Narrative, Truth, & Trial, at 101 Georgetown Law Journal 281 (2012). Here is the abstract. This article critically evaluates the relationship between constructing narratives and achieving factual accuracy at trials. The story model of adjudication — according to which jurors process testimony by organizing it into competing narratives — has gained wide acceptance in the descriptive work of social scientists and currency in the courtroom, but it has received little close attention from legal theorists. The article begins with a discussion of the meaning of narrative and its function at trial. It argues that the story model is incomplete, and that "legal truth" emerges from a hybrid of narrative and other means of inquiry. As a result, trials contain opportunities to promote more systematic consideration of evidence. Second, the article asserts that, to the extent the story model is descriptively correct with respect to the structure of juror decision making, it also gives rise to normative concerns about the tension between characteristic features of narrative and the truth-seeking aspirations of trial. Viewing trials through the lens of narrative theory brings sources of bias and error into focus and suggests reasons to increase the influence of analytic processes. The article then appraises improvements in trial mechanics — from prosecutorial discovery obligations through appellate review of evidentiary errors — that might account for the influence of stories. For example, a fuller understanding of narrative exposes the false assumption within limiting instructions that any piece of evidence exists in isolation. |
And to better inform how adjudicators respond to stories in the courtroom, the article argues for modifying instructions in terms of their candor, explanatory content, and timing.Download the article from SSRN at the link. 
What's In Theaters; What's Up With "Zero Dark Thirty"
Posted: 07 Jan 2013 08:45 AM PST
Two reviews of newly released law-related films from The Hollywood Reporter: Gangster Squad and Promised Land.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, some Senators are questioning CIA involvement in the writing of the script for the Kathryn Bigelow hit Zero Dark Thirty. According to THR,
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, some Senators are questioning CIA involvement in the writing of the script for the Kathryn Bigelow hit Zero Dark Thirty. According to THR,
[I]n a Dec. 19 letter to acting CIA director Michael Morell, the lawmakers expressed a concern that "given the CIA's cooperation with the filmmakers and the narrative's consistency with past public misstatements by former senior CIA officials, filmmakers could have been misled by information they were provided by the CIA."
The senators went on to demand that the intelligence agency turn over to them "'all information and documents provided to the filmmakers by CIA officials." In a second letter sent Dec. 31, Feinstein, Levin and McCain responded to an unusual message Morrell sent to all CIA employees on Dec. 21. In that message, which was posted to the agency's website, the acting director stated that "some [intelligence related to bin Laden's location] came from detainees subjected to enhanced techniques, but there were many other sources as well."More here. More coverage here from the Los Angeles Times.
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