The language of racism and the criminal justice system

Koen, Raymond Anthony

The language of racism and the criminal justice system

Master Thesis

1995

Abstract

The question of racial bias in the criminal justice system has long been a controversial one in South African legal, sociological and political discussion. This thesis is an intervention in the discussion, in favour of the argument that the criminal justice system is a site of racial and other forms of bias. Whereas the conventional emphasis has been on the structures of bias, the focus here is upon the language of bias in the criminal justice system, that is, upon the way in which white judicial officers speak to or about working-class people of colour. Traditionally, the analysis of biased language has been concerned with the patent racist utterance or opinion, identified according to the positivist techniques of content analysis. However, of late an important shift has taken place in the language of racism, to a discourse formally free of blatant racist insults. The analysis of the language of this "new racism" in the criminal justice system is the central focus of this thesis.

Keywords

public law

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