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Narratives and Narrative Structure in Plea Bargaining

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Douglas W. Maynard
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Abstract

During plea negotiations, attorneys use stories to tell what happened when a defendant was charged with an offense. This paper is concerned with how attorneys tell stories, and includes a consideration of narrative structure and how components of this structure are used in plea negotiations. Components of narrative include: (1) a story entry device; (2) the story itself which may contain a backgrounding segment, action report, and reaction report; and (3) a defense segment in which an attorney denies or explains the defendant's behavior. Systematic employment of these components results in four patterns of negotiations: (1) routine processing, (2) assessing character; (3) disputing facts, and (4) arguing subjectivity. Narrative structure is part of the interaction order of negotiations and is a mechanism through which participants assemble features of a case and aspects of the courtroom setting. Narrators reflexively become part of the stories they tell, which provides a structural motivation for them to perform well during negotiations.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , 1988 , pp. 449 - 481
Copyright
Copyright © 1988 by The Law and Society Association

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Footnotes

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the National Science Foundation Conference on Language in the Judicial Process, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., July 26–28, 1985. I would like to thank Steve Clayman, Robert Kidder, Judith Levi, and Anne Walker for their helpful comments.

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Statute Cited

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