Immigrant mafia or local lads on the binge? : The construction of (un)trustworthiness in Swedish district courts

• In this article we address the constructionof familiarity and distance in Swedish district courtcases, involving young men with both immigrantand Swedish backgrounds. Through ethnographicobservations of 40 trials related to street crimes, wehave found different qualities of social interaction that distinguish immigrant background and Swed-ish background cases from each other. These distinc-tions, disfavouring young men with immigrant back-ground, are built up through a series of practices and events that follow taken-for-granted behaviourand details in interaction, such as speech, laughter,choice of words to describe the accused and trust inSwedish witnesses. In conclusion, we argue for thenecessity of detailed, close-up studies of courtroom action and interaction to understand statistical find-ings of discrimination and disfavouring of certain groups of immigrants in court and elsewhere in thejudicial process.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Work (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialpsykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Psychology (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Symbolic interactionism

court observations

social atmosphere

interaction ritual chains

biases

trustworthiness

Socialt arbete

Social Work

Sociology

Sociologi

Socialpsykologi

Social Psychology

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)