‘She called me a name that I didn’t like’

Remorse, responsibility and rehabilitation in Winston Moseley’s parole hearings

Authors

  • Karoline Marko University of Graz
  • Anouschka Foltz University of Graz
  • Katharina Haslacher University of Graz
  • Gareth Hall Aberystwyth University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.24219

Keywords:

parole hearings, apologies, corpus, transitivity, Kitty Genovese

Abstract

In parole hearings, prison inmates are questioned to ascertain whether they can be considered rehabilitated and return to the community or whether they still pose a danger and should remain incarcerated. As such, parole hearings are complex discursive events in which the prisoner must negotiate their identity in conversation with parole officers. The data for this study comprises 17 transcripts of the parole hearings of Winston Moseley, one of the longest-serving inmates in the state of New York. The analysis aims to highlight how Moseley represents his responsibility in the crimes he committed, how he expresses remorse, insight and apologies, and how he portrays his rehabilitated self. The study shows that, even though Moseley’s focus is on the change and development of his personality, the linguistic strategies he uses to talk about his responsibility and how he expresses remorse remain obscure.

Author Biographies

  • Karoline Marko, University of Graz

    Karoline Marko is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Graz in Austria. Her main research interests lie in the fields of sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, particularly in forensic contexts. She is the coordinator of the Forensic Linguistics Certificate at the University of Graz, Austria, and is currently pursuing her postdoctoral degree.

  • Anouschka Foltz, University of Graz

    Anouschka Foltz is Associate Professor in English Linguistics at the Institute of English Studies at the University of Graz in Austria. She completed her Habilitation thesis titled ‘Enablers and barriers in language and communication: insights from alignment, processing and acquisition’ in 2021. Before coming to Graz she was Lecturer in Psycholinguistics at Bangor University in Wales. Her research is interdisciplinary and focuses on psycholinguistics, applied linguistics and access to language.

  • Katharina Haslacher, University of Graz

    Katharina Haslacher is a student research assistant and studies English and Psychology in the Master’s programme at the University of Graz, Austria. She is interested in interdisciplinary research in the fields of psycholinguistics, applied linguistics and language acquisition.

  • Gareth Hall, Aberystwyth University

    Gareth Hall is a Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology at Aberystwyth University in Wales. His research focuses upon understanding behaviour in applied contexts, such as in leisure, sport, and body image. He primarily teaches in these areas and in Social Psychology more broadly.

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Published

2023-12-19

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Marko, K., Foltz, A., Haslacher, K., & Hall, G. (2023). ‘She called me a name that I didn’t like’: Remorse, responsibility and rehabilitation in Winston Moseley’s parole hearings. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, 30(2), 183-210. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.24219