Unpoetic Justice

Journal of Business and Technical Communication Oct 2012

Caren Wakerman Converse University of California, Santa Barbara

Abstract

Despite the legal and social ramifications of presentence investigation reports, little is known about them outside the legal community. The author uses the frameworks of genre theory and activity systems to analyze the documents, the criminal justice system’s ideology of sentencing, and the statutes and regulations that govern the reports. What emerges is an ambiguous and contradictory genre at odds with the philosophy of individualized justice underpinning its origins, a genre that has eschewed narrative for the sake of objectivity. The article further underscores the value of employing a flexible theoretical framework when studying workplace genres.

Journal: Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published: 2012-10-01
DOI: 10.1177/1050651912448798
Open Access: Closed
Topics: genre theory

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

Conrad (2018)

The Use of Passives and Impersonal Style in Civil Engineering Writing

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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