Spatial Interrogations: Space and Power in French Criminal Justice, 1750–1850

This article uses laws, legal manuals and treatises, and visual sources to retrieve the spatial practices of criminal interrogations in France between 1750 and 1850. It shows how space was a crucial aspect of criminal procedure that was shaped by and shaped social interactions and dynamics of power. In the eighteenth century, interrogation rooms were set up to display the unquestionable superiority of the judges, who were positioned as powerful adversaries of the defendants. For suspects, the interrogation on the ‘sellette’ was felt as particularly humiliating. Critics of the criminal justice system reimagined the space of interrogation and put a greater focus on spatial equality: the French Revolution of criminal justice was therefore also a revolution of space. After a period of experimentation, however, this equality proved mostly illusionary. Judges continued to dominate the spaces of interrogation and used the illusion of collaboration and equality as a means to stimulate suspects to confess.

Jaar van publicatie:2020

Toegankelijkheid:Open