RT Article
T1 Seeing crime, feeling crime: Visual evidence, emotions, and the prosecution of domestic violence
JF Theoretical criminology
VO 22
IS 1
SP 116
OP 132
A1 Moore, Dawn 1974-
A2 Singh, Rashmee
LA English
YR 2018
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1679117815
AB Changes in prosecutorial strategies vis-a-vis domestic violence introduced new models of investigation that privilege images of victims. Drawing on case law, we argue these visual artefacts of victims' injuries as well as their videotaped sworn statements describing their assaults constitute what Haggerty and Ericson call a ‘data double', a virtual doppleganger who is meant to stand, often antagonistically in the stead of the flesh and blood victim. We further suggest, following theorizing on the emotional impact of images, that these pictures and videos, presented in court, have an emotional stickiness that differently affects both judges and juries as compared to the testimony of the flesh and blood victim. Thinking through temporality and notions of femininity we conclude that the truth effect of these images is that the victim's data double becomes more human than human, forcing us to rethink the relationships between victims, images, and the machinations of justice.
K1 Affect
K1 Domestic violence
K1 Feminist theory
K1 Photograph
K1 Visual criminology
DO 10.1177/1362480616684194